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BETTER    SCHOOLS 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO 
DALLAS    •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  Limited 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


BETTER    SCHOOLS 


BY 


B.    C.    GREGORY 

LATE  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS  IN  TRENTON,  NEW  JERSEY 
AND  IN  CHELSEA,  MASSACHUSETTS 


EDITED    BY 

JAMES   L.  HUGHES 

CHIEF   INSPECTOR  OF   SCHOOLS,   TORONTO,   CANADA 


Weto  iork 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1912 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1912, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  June,  1912. 


J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


LB 

)  orb 


PREFACE 

Those  who  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  Dr.  Gregory 
intimately  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  were  hope- 
ful that  he  would  do  an  essential  work  for  the  schools  of 
the  world.  He  had  the  spirit  of  a  great  teacher,  and  he 
was  a  true  man.  He  understood  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Froebel's  philosophy  much  better  than  most 
of  the  progressive  educational  men,  better  even  than 
many  of  the  Kindergarten  leaders. 

He  clearly  grasped  two  of  the  vital  principles  that  are 
transforming  educational  thought  and  revolutionizing 
educational  practice:  first,  that  the  child,  and  not  the 
knowledge  to  be  communicated  to  him,  should  be  the 
determining  basis  of  pedagogical  systems  and  of  school 
methods ;  second,  that  the  child  develops  power  —  which 
is  infinitely  more  important  than  knowledge  —  by  his 
own  self-activity,  and  by  self-activity  only. 

Dr.  Gregory  made  these  two  principles  the  basis  of 
educational  practice,  and  the  unfailing  test  of  all  school 
work.  His  lectures  and  his  writings  revealed  a  rapidly 
developing  insight  that  fully  justified  the  hope  that  he 
would  become  a  revealer  of  truth  and  a  transformer  of 
conditions  in  the  schools  in  harmony  with  the  most 
advanced  educational  ideals. 

He  was  writing  a  series  of  educational  articles  with  the 


QRIP^RJ^ 


vi  PREFACE 

view  of  having  them  published  in  book  form,  when  his 
life  work  came  suddenly  to  an  end.  Some  of  these 
articles  were  pubHshed  in  a  local  paper  in  Chelsea, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  was  Superintendent  of  Schools 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  Others  were  published  in 
educational  magazines. 

It  was  his  intention  to  pubHsh  these  articles  in  book 
form,  and  many  of  those  who  had  been  admitted  to  his 
circle  of  friends,  or  who  had  heard  him  expound  and  apply 
his  principles  of  education  at  Summer  Schools  or  at 
institute  meetings,  expressed  the  hope  that  they  might  be 
collected  and  published.  The  privilege  of  editing  them 
was  graciously  given  to  me.  To  do  the  work  assigned 
me  has  been  joyous  and  uplifting.  I  hope  the  result  — 
his  book  —  may  be  a  worthy  memorial  to  him,  and  that 
it  may  guide  many  of  the  teachers  of  his  own  and  other 
lands  to  clearer  insight,  broader  thought,  and  higher 
power  as  teachers. 

Teachers  will  find  the  book  stimulating  to  original 
investigation.  It  emphasizes  the  need  of  a  closer  unity 
between  the  school  work  of  the  child  and  the  work  and 
life  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives.  It  advocates  the 
wisdom  of  adapting  the  course  of  study  and  the  operative 
processes  of  the  school  to  the  nature  of  the  child  and 
to  the  progressive  development  of  his  powers.  It  makes 
the  child  and  his  activities  and  interests  the  center  of 
the  school  universe.  It  accounts  for  the  child's  apathy 
and  carelessness  in  school,  and  reveals  the  methods  by 
which  he  may  be  kept  as  vitally  interested  and  energeti- 


PREFACE  VU 

cally  productive  in  school  as  he  is  in  his  free  Hfe  outside 
of  school.  It  shows  how  the  bright,  alert,  interested, 
achieving  child  of  five  may  be  saved  from  the  too  common 
torpor  and  indifference  and  ineffectiveness  induced  by 
the  schools  at  fifteen.  It  changes  the  aim  of  education 
from  mere  knowledge  to  power,  skill,  and  character; 
from  books  to  life. 

Dr.  Gregory  did  not  use  new  thought  merely  to  reveal 
the  weakness  of  old  ideals  and  practices.  He  was  construc- 
tive, not  merely  destructive.  He  used  new  truth  to 
reform  conditions  and  in  his  reconstruction  he  preserved 
all  that  was  useful  or  beautiful  in  the  revelations  of  the 
past.  His  theories  are  not  visionary;  his  ideals  are 
clearly  expounded  and  easily  understood.  They  are 
applicable  to  schools  of  all  grades.  Superintendents 
and  teachers  will  find  the  book  interesting,  instructive, 
and  inspiring. 

JAMES  L.  HUGHES. 
Toronto,  August,  1911. 


\ 


February  20,  1912. 
Mrs.  Hannah  B.  Gregory, 
5  Fitz  Terrace, 

Chelsea,  Massachusetts. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Gregory: 

I  am  greatly  pleased  that  the  letters  contributed  by 
Doctor  Gregory  to  the  Chelsea  Gazette,  shortly  before  his 
death,  are  to  be  pubhshed  in  book  form.  These  arti- 
cles I  read  with  the  greatest  interest  and  pleasure  from 
week  to  week,  as  they  appeared.  You  will  remember 
I  wrote  to  Doctor  Gregory  at  that  time,  urging  him  to 
recast  them  and  have  them  made  into  a  book. 

Doctor  Gregory  had  an  unusual  insight  into  the  prin- 
ciples of  education,  and  a  still  more  unusual  ability  to 
state  them  in  clear  English,  easily  intelligible  to  the 
great  mass  of  teachers.  It  was  for  this  reason,  I  think, 
that  year  after  year  at  the  Summer  School  of  the 
South,  held  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  under  my  super- 
vision, a  large  number  of  the  thoughtful  teachers  filled 
his  classes  to  hear  his  lectures  on  the  principles  of  Froe- 
bel  as  applied  to  education  in  schools  above  the  kinder- 
garten. His  constant  study  of  education  not  only  from 
the  books  but  concretely  and  at  first  hand,  his  clearness 
of  statement,  and  his  sweet  spirit  made  him  an  ideal 
teacher  of  teachers. 


X  COMMUNICATION 

These  letters  have  the  added  value  that  must  ever 
come  to  any  writings  that  have  sprung  out  of  the  life 
and  heart  of  a  man  when  working  for  the  advancement 
of  a  great  cause.  I  am  glad  they  are  to  be  given  this 
more  permanent  form  by  a  man  so  capable  of  interpret- 
ing Doctor  Gregory  as  is  Doctor  Hughes.  The  book 
cannot  fail  to  accomplish  much  good  for  the  cause  of 
truer  ideals  and  better  practice  in  the  schoolroom. 
Yours  sincerely, 

P.  P.  CLAXTON. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Self- Activity *        .        .  i 

II.    The  Kindergarten ii 

III.  Continuity  of  Kindergarten  and  Elementary 

School 27 

IV.  Gumption 39 

V.     Manual  Training 54 

VI.     Industrial  Training 64 

VII.     Nature  Study 89 

VIII.    Play 98 

IX.    Popular  Criticisms  of  Schools  .        .        .        .111 
X.    Music,  Literature,  and  Drawing  as  Elements 

OF  Character 130 

XI.    Arithmetic 136 

XII.    Geography 142 

XIII.  Reading 161 

XIV.  Spelling 169 

XV.    Language i97 

XVI.    History 245 

XVII.    Basic  Principles 252 

Appendix 261 


xl 


BETTER   SCHOOLS 


CHAPTER  I 

Self-activity 

The  weakest  element  in  modern  educational  thought 
is  the  belief,  conscious  or  unconscious,  that  a  child's 
character  may  be  constructed  by  the  teacher,  and  that 
it  may  be  constructed  by  the  judicious  selection  and 
teaching  of  certain  amounts  of  different  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge. Nearly  as  weak  is  the  idea  that  the  great  aim 
of  the  school  should  be  to  communicate  knowledge  to  the 
pupils  as  a  preparation  for  their  Hfe  work. 

The  child's  success  in  life  will  depend  mainly  on  two 
things:  his  power  and  his  skill.  The  development  of  his 
power  and  his  skill  should,  therefore,  be  the  supreme  aim 
of  the  school,  not  the  storing  of  his  mind  —  or,  as  is  too 
often  the  case,  his  memory  merely.  The  overvaluation 
of  knowledge,  and  the  inabihty  to  recognize  the  selfhood 
of  the  child,  are  responsible  for  the  failures  in  modern 
education.  The  New  Education  beheves  that  the  child  — 
not  knowledge  —  is  power,  and  that  the  development  of 
this  power  by  the  child's  self-activity  is  the  supreme 
work  of  the  school.  This  thought  lies  at  the  basis  of 
every  great  modern  tendency  in  education. 


2  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

You  cannot  "grow"  a  child's  body.  You  cannot 
"  grow  "  a  child's  mind.  But  modern  educational  practice 
says  you  can  do  the  latter.  Therefore  modern  educa- 
tional practice  is  absurd.  This  is  our  fundamental 
absurdity,  the  absurdity  on  which  we  build  our  other 
absurdities.     It  is  our  pet  absurdity. 

The  postulate,  so  far  as  it  appHes  to  the  body,  does  not 
admit  of  argument.  You  can  surround  a  child  with 
conditions  favorable  to  growth,  but  he  himself  must  do 
the  growing.  He  must  do  the  eating,  the  exercising,  the 
sleeping,  the  bathing.  Nobody  else  can  eat,  exercise, 
sleep,  or  bathe  for  him.  But  when  one  turns  to  the 
growth  of  the  mind,  a  spurious  pedagogy  asserts  itself. 
No  one  who  thoughtfully  considers  the  data  offered  by 
thousands  of  schoolrooms  can  come  to  any  other  con- 
clusion than  that  our  practice,  at  least,  is  fundamentally 
wrong.  The  pupil's  attitude  toward  work  is  seen  in 
the  aimlessness  and  feebleness  of  his  efforts,  in  the  frag- 
mentary character  of  his  answers,  in  the  inarticulate 
language  in  which  they  are  expressed,  in  the  slovenUness 
of  his  written  work,  in  the  perfection  to  which  he  has  re- 
duced the  art  of  dawdling,  in  his  slouching  posture  in 
writing,  and  often  in  the  extraordinary  contortions  by 
which  he  arrives  at  such  a  posture. 

The  teacher,  on  his  side,  favors  this  attitude  and  min- 
isters to  the  condition  of  things  which  lies  back  of  the 
attitude,  by  coming  to  his  assistance  in  every  possible 
way,  explaining  before  the  pupil  himself  has  really  tried 
to  comprehend,  filling  out  his  imperfect  sentences,  point- 


SELF- ACTIVITY  3 

ing  out  his  errors,  most  of  which  the  child  knows  very 
well  are  errors,  and  at  every  point  anticipating  healthy 
effort  on  his  part. 

Let  the  following  test  be  appHed  by  any  teacher. 
Hand  a  set  of  compositions  back  to  a  class  without  in- 
dicating the  errors,  and  demand  that  the  errors  shall  be 
not  only  corrected  but  discovered,  and  that  the  composi- 
tions shall  be  rewritten.  Continue  to  hand  back  the  same 
compositions  indefinitely  until  all  the  errors  are  discovered 
by  the  writers,  and  a  composition  perfect  in  view  of  the 
state  of  the  child's  progress  is  evolved.  Persevere  in  this 
treatment,  and  soon  the  child  becomes  practically  inde- 
pendent. Whereas  the  pupils  at  the  beginning  could  not 
produce  a  perfect  composition  without  many  efforts,  at 
the  end  of  the  year  they  are  able  to  do  so  with  one  or  two 
efforts.  The  same  course  of  treatment  appHed  to  arith- 
metic, Latin,  German,  or  anything  else,  will  reveal  the 
same  result.  It  becomes  apparent,  when  such  a  course 
of  treatment  is  persisted  in,  that  for  the  first  time  in  their 
school  hves  the  pupils  are  self -active.  The  teacher  learns 
how  low  his  standards  have  been,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  his  Hfe  grasps  the  possibilities  of  self-activity  in  edu- 
cation. Indeed  the  modesty  of  the  teacher's  usual  de- 
mands on  the  child  would  be  amusing  if  it  were  not  so 
serious. 

No  one  can  do  for  another  what  the  latter  can  do  for 
himself,  without  interfering  to  that  extent  with  his 
growth.  Growth  is  from  within  and  is  brought  about, 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  by  the  acts  of  the  party  who 


4  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

desires  to  grow.  Whenever  a  teacher  does  for  a  child 
what  the  child  could  have  done  for  himself,  he  deprives 
him  of  the  right  to  grow ;  if  he  persists  in  such  treatment, 
he  stunts  the  child's  growth;  if  he  could  do  absolutely 
everything  for  the  child,  the  child  would  not  grow  at  all. 

This  treatment  of  the  child  is  sometimes  called  "the 
new  education."  It  is  a  Ubel  on  that  honored  phrase.  The 
new  education  emancipates  the  individuality  of  the  child. 
Its  very  basis  is  self-activity,  and  it  aims  to  place  the 
child  in  such  an  environment  as  to  evoke  that  activity. 
In  the  new  education  there  is  a  time  to  explain  and  a 
time  to  cease  from  explanatioi.,  a  time  to  give  help  and 
a  time  to  withhold  it. 

There  is  but  one  remedy.  The  child  must  be  forced 
back  on  himself.  He  must  have  just  as  much  help  as  is 
necessary  to  place  liim  in  a  position  to  help  himself,  and 
no  more.  This  amount  varies  with  the  child,  but  its  limit 
in  any  case  is  a  sacred  line,  over  which  you  pass  at  his 
peril.  The  teacher  must  more  and  more  withdraw  him- 
self. He  must  stop  meddhng.  There  is  no  educational 
discipline  but  self-discipHne,  and,  in  its  final  resolution, 
there  is  no  education  but  self-education. 

Self-activity  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  activity 
of  the  pupil  in  response  to  the  suggestions  or  directions  of 
the  teacher.  The  teacher's  duty  is  to  reveal  new  laws 
and  new  principles  that  the  pupil  cannot  discover  for  him- 
self, but  the  application  of  the  principles  should  be  made 
by  the  pupils  themselves.  The  simplest  and  most  per- 
fect test  of  the  value  of  a  teacher's  work  is  the  amount 


SELF-ACTIVITY  5 

of  self-activity  developed  in  the  pupils.  The  great  aim  of 
every  teacher  should  be  to  discover  new  methods  of  arous- 
ing vital  interest  in  his  pupils  as  the  true  basis  for  in- 
creased self-activity  on  their  part. 

Self-activity  is  not  an  empty  word  with  a  big  sound. 
It  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  teaching.  The  lack  of  it  explains 
most  of  our  failures.  To  really  grasp  the  idea  will  revo- 
lutionize any  teacher. 

The  product  of  the  public  school  system  taken  as  a 
whole  is  not  inspiring ;  in  many  cases  it  is  disheartening. 

This  does  not  apply  to  all  the  schools  in  our  land,  but 
it  applies  to  most  of  them.  The  picture  is  not  accurate 
in  its  entirety  in  all  schools,  but  the  weakness  is  in  most 
of  them.  It  is  generally,  at  least,  a  clearly  defined  tend- 
ency, and  often  it  is  a  clearly  defined  fact. 

And  the  condition  grows  worse  from  the  time  the  child 
enters  school.  When  we  receive  him  he  is  a  bright,  wide- 
awake, self-active  little  child.  When  we  get  through 
with  him  at  the  close  of  the  high  school  he  is  neither 
bright,  wide-awake,  nor  self-active.  Every  teacher 
knows  that  these  statements  are  true.  The  high 
school  teacher,  for  example,  is  emphatic  in  his  criticisms 
of  the  grammar  school  graduates  whom  he  receives. 
He  is  right,  but  he  does  not  do  any  better.  The  dete- 
rioration does  not  stop  at  the  high  school.  And  the 
worst  critic  of  all  is  the  business  man  who  receives  our 
output. 

This  is  not  education.  Indeed,  such  a  state  of  things 
makes  real  education   impossible.    The  importance  of 


6  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

education  lies  not  in  the  arithmetic,  geography,  etc.,  but 
in  the  reactions  arising  from  these  studies;  not  in  how 
much  arithmetic  a  boy  learns,  but  in  what  sort  of  an 
arithmetician  he  becomes.  Which,  for  example,  ought 
we  to  prefer  in  arithmetic  :  rapidity  and  ease  in  straight- 
away percentage,  or  a  feeble  and  perfunctory  power  in 
four  cases  of  percentage  ?  What  should  be  the  outcome 
in  arithmetic  ?  Simple  arithmetical  power,  and  this  can 
be  taught  by  the  use  of  a  very  narrow  field  of  topics,  so 
that  the  pupil  will  be  able  to  take  up  the  omitted  topics 
whenever  it  is  necessary.  But  no  such  definite  outcome 
as  arithmetical  power  is  before  the  teacher  whose  aim  is 
merely  the  acquisition  of  facts.  Picture  a  student  with 
arithmetical  power  and  a  love  for  arithmetic  who  has 
never  studied  partial  payments,  but  is  called  upon  to  use 
partial  payments  after  he  has  left  school.  He  will  learn 
the  subject  in  five  minutes. 

But  children  do  not  leave  school  with  that  power. 
They  acquire  merely  a  mechanical,  and  generally  a  daw- 
dling ability  to  do  a  few  specific  things. 

So  much  for  the  diagnosis.  Now  for  the  cause  of  the 
disease  and  its  treatment.  The  analysis  is  simple  and  has 
been  hinted  at  already.  The  worst  of  the  trouble  lies  in 
the  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  to  do  for  the  child 
what  he  can  do  for  himself. 

Every  time  a  child  acts  for  himself  he  grows  stronger. 
Whenever  some  one  else  does  his  work  he  grows  weaker. 
Let  the  process  of  outside  assistance  go  on  year  after 
year  and  the  present  results  are  explained.     To  develop 


SELF-ACTIVITY  7 

his  arm,  as  a  child  he  must  use  his  arm.  The  law  applies 
equally  to  his  brain. 

But  there  is  a  deeper  question.  Why  do  not  teachers 
demand  and  get  self-activity  ? 

Teachers  may  be  divided  into  two  classes :  those  who  can 
get  this  self-activity  and  those  who  carmot.  Whatever 
other  results  a  teacher  may  obtain,  if  she  does  not  obtain 
this  result,  her  product  will  fall  far  short  of  the  true  ideal. 
What  is  the  consideration  on  which  the  whole  question 
is  determined  ?  The  answer  is,  the  outcome,  —  the  out- 
come which  the  teacher  proposes  for  her  own  attainment. 
There  are  two  possible  outcomes  between  which  the 
teacher  must  choose.  The  outcome  that  attracts  many 
teachers  is  the  acquisition  of  facts  and  a  certain  mechani- 
cal eflSciency  that  can  be  measured  by  examination. 

When  this  attainment  is  placed  above  power,  the  end  of 
education  is  misconceived.  Attainment  is  essential,  but 
the  world  needs  power,  and  the  complaint  of  the  world 
is  that  it  does  not  get  it.  There  is  no  loss  in  attainment 
when  power  is  the  outcome.  Power  makes  attainment 
possible,  and  it  is  the  only  way  in  which  it  is  rationally 
possible. 

Let  grammar  illustrate  the  distinction.  If  does  and  do 
produce  a  treadmill  boy,  the  reaction  is  malign.  A  love 
of  written  expression,  which  includes  a  love  of  grammar, 
should  be  the  outcome,  not  mere  accuracy  in  answering 
certain  questions. 

This,  again,  is  the  reason  for  failure  in  many  high  school 
subjects,   e.g.  literature.     The  question  is  not  whether 


8  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

the  pupils  understand  a  certain  classic  which  has  been 
discussed,  but  whether  they  long  to  read  other  classics  for 
themselves.  Professor  Tyler  of  Amherst  says  that  the 
teaching  of  literature  in  most  high  schools  is  like  vaccina- 
tion. In  vaccination  you  give  a  person  a  mild  attack  of 
the  disease  and  that  insures  that  he  will  never  have 
another. 

From  this  point  of  view,  again,  the  important  thing  is 
not  the  number  of  subjects  taught  in  arithmetic,  but  the 
reaction  caused  by  those  that  are  taught. 

Again,  think  of  geography  in  this  connection.  The 
teacher  in  whatever  grade  who  has  not  recently  done 
some  teaching  of  Bosnia,  Bulgaria,  or  Turkey,  or  who 
has  not  followed  the  fleet,  has  misconceived  the  purpose  of 
geography.^  This  is  true  even  if  the  subject  in  the  course 
of  study  in  the  grade  is  the  United  States.  Why?  Be- 
cause such  teaching  makes  geography  live.  It  is  more 
important  that  geography  should  live  than  that  the  pupil 
should  be  able  to  bound  states  or  to  tell  their  capitals. 
Therefore,  geography  must  be  cut,  but  even  if  it  is  cut, 
it  is  entirely  possible  to  teach  the  balance  of  it  mechani- 
cally. 

The  lack  of  self-activity,  I  have  said,  expresses  itself 
in  the  attitudes  and  positions  of  children,  in  their  tone  of 
voice,  in  dawdling  and  careless  written  work,  in  unwill- 
ingness for  research.  According  to  the  psychological  law, 
external  phenomena  react  on  internal  phenomena.  In 
accordance  with  this  law  we  should  expect  our  school 
*  Written  during  a  war  in  Turkey. 


SELF-ACTIVITY  9 

work  to  show  this  reaction.  Of  course  it  shows  it.  An 
apathetic  class  in  reading  is  a  proof  that  the  reading  is 
badly  taught  and  is  having  no  educative  effect,  and  this 
is  true  in  the  high  school  as  well  as  in  the  primary  school. 
When  children  wish  to  come  back  to  school  for  geography 
and  arithmetic,  as  they  wish  to  come  back  for  manual 
training  and  music,  the  teacher  has  been  truly  suc- 
cessful. 

These  considerations,  therefore,  are  not  merely  facts. 
They  are  indications  of  wrong  conceptions,  and  of 
failure.  Froebel  says  the  child  must  evolve  his  own 
personality;  he  must  find  himself.  But  in  many  cases 
the  personality  is  submerged.  There  is  a  vague  theory 
that  the  teachings  of  the  teacher  will  all  blossom  by  and 
by,  even  if  the  child  does  not  show  interest  in  them  now. 
The  fact  is  that  the  teachings  do  not  blossom. 

There  are,  of  course,  reasons  for  this  malign  state  of 
things  we  have  been  describing,  for  which  we  are  not 
responsible.  So  far  as  the  results  in  our  schools  are  con- 
trolled by  inheritance  or  by  the  fact  that  the  pupils  have 
been  passed  up  from  one  class  to  another  with  a  tendency 
to  inactivity  accumulating,  the  teacher  is  not  to  blame. 
But  while  these  causes  account  in  part  for  failure,  they 
do  not  account  at  all  for  our  lack  of  effort. 

But  there  are  reasons  for  which  we  are  responsible. 
For  example,  there  is  a  state  of  mind,  a  false  conception 
of  the  path  of  the  least  resistance.  It  is  easier  to  do 
treadmill  work  because  we  know  it  than  to  attempt  a 
disgression.     Old  plans,  like  old  shoes,  are  more  cora- 


lO  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

fortable.     The  teacher  sees  the  phenomenon  of  apathy, 
but  becomes  used  to  it  and  says  it  cannot  be  modified. 

Then  there  is  a  stoUd  conservatism  in  regard  to  old 
things.  This  is  maddening.  And  finally  there  is  the 
failure  to  conceive  the  true  end  of  education. 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Kindergarten 

For  one  who  is  imbued  with  the  so-called  practical 
views  of  education  only,  it  is  not  easy  to  make  an  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  the  kindergarten.  "The  kindergarten 
is  a  pretty  sight,  the  children  are  evidently  happy  and 
that,  of  course,  is  a  good  thing,  but  —  what  are  they 
learning  ?  Only  to  play  in  a  variety  of  expensive  ways, 
—  a  rather  costly  frill." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  what  about  these  same  chil- 
dren in  the  ordinary  primary  classroom  ?  Children  under 
the  age  of  six,  for  the  most  part,  get  very  httle  in  school. 
They  dawdle,  fuss  with  busy  work,  take  instruction 
with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  lose  it  with  the  greatest 
facility.  If  they  entered  at  six,  they  would  be  just  as 
far  along  at  seven  as  they  are  when  they  enter  at  five, 
and  they  would  be  more  original,  more  independent,  and 
stronger  physically.     This  is  not  economy  either. 

On  this  supposition  the  presence  of  these  children  in 
school  means  a  waste  of  energy  and  money.  It  would  be 
economy  to  let  them  play  out  of  doors,  begin  school  at 
six,  save  money,  and  increase  their  power.  So  much  is 
clear. 

But  the  case  is  not  all  in  yet.  Children  on  the  average 
are  not  fit  for  regular  primary  work  before  they  are 


12  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

six,  but  does  it  follow  from  that  that  they  cannot 
learn  anything?  Every  parent  knows  that  they  learn 
a  great  deal  and  learn  it  very  fast.  For  instance, 
they  learn  the  English  language.  Not  an  insignifi- 
cant achievement,  that.  A  child  at  the  age  of  six 
speaks  Enghsh  very  much  better  than  most  college 
graduates  speak  French,  and  he  learns  his  new  language 
in  five  years,  but  he  learns  it  in  his  own  way  and  not  in 
the  way  the  schools  teach  it.  This  is  not  complimentary 
to  the  schools,  more's  the  pity. 

The  child  under  the  age  of  six  has,  in  fact,  certain 
powers  which  are  fully  alive  and  seek  exercise.  For  the 
most  part  they  are  not  guided,  at  any  rate  they  receive 
no  training.  If  such  an  extraordinary  accomplishment 
as  the  learning  of  a  language  takes  place  without  train- 
ing and  almost  without  guidance,  what  might  not  be 
accomplished  with  guidance?  On  this  question  the 
kindergarten  is  based.  The  kindergarten  takes  the 
child  as  he  is,  with  all  his  wonderful  powers.  It  does 
not  substitute  other  powers,  it  does  not  seek  to  train 
what  the  child  has  not,  it  accepts  the  child  just  as  he  is 
made  and  does  not  pretend  to  greater  wisdom  than  the 
Almighty.  The  little  one  has  not  any  arithmetic  or 
reading  or  grammar  to  give ;  the  Lord  has  left  that  out 
for  the  present.  The  kindergarten  leaves  them  out,  too. 
This  general  proposition  sounds  sensible.  If  the  kinder- 
garten can  obtain  a  development  along  other  lines 
corresponding  in  extent  to  the  language  development, 
the  trial  is  surely  worth  making. 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  1 3 

This  is  the  aim  of  the  kindergarten.  To  determine 
whether  it  is  practical  we  must  answer  two  questions : 
What  is  this  training  ?     What  is  its  effect  on  the  child  ? 

These  are  the  acquisitions  claimed  for  the  kinder- 
garten-trained child.  I  condense  from  the  statements 
of  many  primary  (not  kindergarten)  teachers  :  — 

First,  he  is  awakened.  Second,  he  grasps  much  more 
readily  than  other  children  the  idea  presented,  whether  it 
be  a  direction  to  be  followed,  a  story  to  be  told,  or  a  new 
word  to  be  learned.  Third,  the  kindergarten  child  uses 
his  senses  intelligently.  He  sees,  he  hears,  and  he  is  able 
to  tell  about  it.  He  compares  what  he  observes,  and  thus 
forms  his  own  ideas  in  regard  to  everything  with  which 
he  comes  in  contact.  Hence  the  teacher  has  a  little 
thinker  to  deal  with,  a  mind  ready  to  begin  work  for  itself. 
Through  his  habits  of  observation  the  kindergarten  child 
has  gained  such  a  fund  of  information  concerning  the  world 
around  him  that  the  primary  teacher  has  just  so  many 
more  avenues  through  which  to  reach  his  mind.  Fourth, 
his  powers  of  attention,  alertness,  and  self-reliance  are 
better  developed.  Fifth,  he  gains  the  power  of  concen- 
tration, which  very,  very  few  home  children  possess. 
Sixth,  as  he  has  learned  to  work  unaided  at  a  given  task, 
the  kindergarten  child  needs  less  supervision.  Seventh, 
the  kindergarten  child  is  more  resourceful,  and  more 
skillful  with  his  hands  than  home  children.  Eighth, 
the  kindergarten  child  has  been  taught  the  beginnings 
of  self-government,  unselfishness,  respect  and  reverence 
for  the  rights  of  others.     Ninth,  the  kindergarten  child 


14  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

shows  a  generally  higher  moral  development  than  those 
who  come  directly  from  the  home.  Tenth,  the  little  child 
when  he  comes  from  the  kindergarten  knows  how  to  con- 
duct himself.  With  quick  adaptability  he  comes  into 
line  with  other  children ;  in  short,  he  has  learned  that 
he  is  a  member  of  a  Httle  community  in  which  every  one 
has  equal  rights. 

The  foregoing  is  not  an  insignificant  category :  grasp 
of  ideas,  habits  of  observation,  attention,  alertness, 
power  of  concentration,  self-reliance,  resourcefulness, 
skill  at  hand  work,  self-government,  unselfishness,  respect 
for  the  rights  of  others,  higher  moral  development, 
community  spirit.  What  more  could  you  ask  of  a  boy 
whom  you  were  about  to  employ  than  this  galaxy  of 
acquirements  ?  Ought  not  his  arithmetic,  for  instance, 
to  be  rather  better  with  this  preparation  ? 

But  this  is  not  theory.  "The  primary  teacher," 
says  the  principal  of  kindergartens  of  Duluth,  "says 
that  all  this  helps  the  child  greatly  when  he  comes  to 
read.  His  observing  powers  have  been  so  quickened 
and  trained  that  he  distinguishes  the  forms  of  sentences 
and  words  readily  and  accurately,  and  the  interest  aroused 
in  regard  to  all  the  works  of  nature  and  the  occupations  of 
man,  give  the  child  that  desire  and  longing  for  informa- 
tion that  is  the  source  of  good  work  everywhere." 

And  she  adds,  very  significantly:  "When  the  child 
feels  that  a  great  gain  is  to  be  made  by  learning  to  read, 
he  learns  very  quickly.  When  the  adult  craves  informa- 
tion, he  makes  a  way  to  get  it." 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  IS 

It  is  not  a  development  in  which  books  and  formal 
instruction  have  any  part.  But  it  is  not  the  less  educa- 
tion for  this  reason.  It  is  the  education  of  the  per- 
ception and  imagination,  but  especially  an  education 
of  the  emotions. 

Dr.  C.  B.  Gilbert,  formerly  superintendent  of  schools, 
Rochester,  New  York,  makes  this  impressive  suggestion  : 
"Many  have  started  on  a  course  of  criminality  almost 
in  infancy.  The  children  of  the  degraded  poor,  and  also 
those  of  the  degraded  rich,  need  kindergartens  while 
young.  We  cannot  catch  them  too  early  if  we  are  to 
make  good  citizens  of  them." 

Mr.  L.  H.  Jones,  superintendent  of  the  state  normal 
schools  of  Michigan,  says  in  the  same  vein  :  "The period 
between  four  and  six  is  morally  a  very  dangerous  period 
to  children  that  are  not  well  cared  for  in  their  homes. 
Many  of  the  evil  habits  learned  during  this  period  require 
for  their  correction  the  strength  of  the  teacher  for  many 
years  of  school  life.  This  reason  in  itself  is  sufficient  proof 
of  the  wisdom  of  placing  the  child  during  this  period  where 
he  will  not  only  not  form  bad  habits,  but  will  form  good 
ones." 

The  cost  of  the  kindergarten  has  been  greatly  exag- 
gerated. In  the  public  schools  of  Massachusetts,  in- 
cluding high  schools,  the  average  cost  for  the  education 
of  each  pupil  is  $30.53.  The  average  cost  for  each  child 
in  the  public  kindergartens  now  maintained  is  $18.67. 
In  St.  Louis,  where  the  kindergarten  is  most  firmly 
estabhshed  as  a  part  of  the  pubhc  school  system,  the 


I 6  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

cost  of  the  kindergarten  per  child  is  $16.12,  or  about 
$3  less  than  the  cost  of  the  grade  schools. 

But  if  the  statements  made  above  regarding  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  kindergarten  are  true,  and  a  year's  time  may 
be  saved  to  the  child  in  the  elementary  school,  the  cost 
of  the  kindergarten  practically  disappears. 

The  cost  of  kindergartens,  however,  like  the  cost 
of  all  forms  of  education,  must  also  be  thought  of  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  cost  it  prevents. 

On  "The  Cost  of  Crime,"  Warren  F.  Spaulding,  prison 
commissioner,  writes:  "It  takes  one  tenth  of  the  taxes 
to  punish  our  offenders.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
criminal  is  a  very  expensive  citizen,  and  that  the  tax- 
payer has  a  pecuniary  interest  in  the  prevention  and 
abolition  of  crime.  Most  of  the  crime-costs  paid  by  the 
tax-payer  are  for  the  punishment  of  crime ;  comparatively 
little  is  spent  for  prevention." 

Civic  righteousness  has  a  money  value.  The  in- 
dividual may  have  it  for  the  asking,  but  the  community 
must  pay  for  it.  But  it  is  better  to  pay  for  righteousness 
than  for  sin. 

The  Century  Magazine  says:  "Kindergartens  yearly 
feed  into  the  common  schools  fresh  material,  alive,  alert, 
awake,  taught  to  think,  able  in  six  months  to  do  the 
work  of  a  year  in  the  old  system,  grasping  numbers  with 
ease  and  rapidity,  their  fingers  trained  to  hold  the 
pencil,  the  task  of  learning  either  writing  or  drawing 
half  done." 

President  Harper  of  Chicago  University  said  that  "a 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  1 7 

thorough  kindergarten  training  saves  two  years  in  the 
university  career  of  a  normal  child.  His  powers  of  mind 
are  developed  and  trained,  and  he  goes  to  his  work  which 
opens  up  a  new  field  in  every  study  pursued." 

But  let  us  get  down  to  figures.  The  late  Superintend- 
ent Soldan  of  St.  Louis  said :  "In  the  St.  Louis  schools 
without  kindergartens,  children  are  admitted  to  the 
primary  grades  at  six;  in  those  with  kindergartens,  at 
seven.  The  kindergarten  children  ought  therefore  to 
be  one  year  behind  the  non-kindergarten.  But  this  is 
far  from  being  the  case.  By  the  time  the  children  have 
reached  the  fifth  grade  there  is  no  longer  any  material 
difference  in  age  between  the  two  classes;  and  by  the 
time  they  reach  the  highest  grade,  the  kindergarten 
children  are  somewhat  younger  than  those  without 
kindergarten  training." 

In  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  the  age  of  kindergarten  children 
in  every  grade  is  actually  less  than  that  of  the  remainder 
of  the  class  by  a  few  months,  until  the  eighth  grade  is 
reached,  where  the  difference  is  ten  months  —  a  school 
year. 

But  there  is  an  education  for  which  the  school  cur- 
riculum does  not  provide,  which  cannot  be  obtained 
from  books,  which  cannot  be  omitted  without  injury  to 
the  development  of  the  child,  and  which  cannot  be 
measured  by  figure^.  No  one  will  contend  that  there 
is  no  moral  and  mental  development  appropriate  to 
infancy,  and  no  intelligent  person  will  claim  that  such 
development  can  be   omitted  with  impunity.     A  well- 


l8  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

conducted  kindergarten  develops  the  apperceptive  cen- 
ters of  every  power  which  man  should  possess  at  matu- 
rity. 

I  have  spoken  so  far  of  the  beneficent  influence  of  the 
kindergarten  in  preparing  little  children  for  their  future 
work.  But  this  is  only  a  partial  statement  of  the  case. 
The  blessings  of  the  kindergarten  gospel  are  not  limited 
to  the  kindergarten  itself.  They  have  overflowed  into 
the  elementary  school  and  are  increasingly  changing 
for  the  better  the  character  of  the  teaching  in  all  the 
schools  above  the  kindergarten  grade.  The  primary 
school  has  been  very  much  influenced  by  kindergarten 
teaching,  although  still  not  enough.  The  kindergarten 
will  not  have  accomplished  its  mission  until  the  whole 
school  system,  high  school  included,  is  infused  with  its 
spirit. 

There  is  a  notion  that  the  kindergarten  makes  its  in- 
fluence felt,  on  the  primary  school  at  least,  only  by  means 
of  the  kindergarten  apparatus.  This  is  an  unfortunate 
opinion.  The  so-called  busy  work  of  the  primary 
grades  has  been  an  effective  education  in  idleness  be- 
cause some  good  people  have  persisted  in  thinking  that 
the  schools  were  to  be  benefited  by  forcing  into  them 
material,  much  of  which  is  utterly  inappropriate  to 
the  purpose  of  the  school.  This  state  of  things  has 
done  much  to  make  the  teacher  believe  that  dawdling 
and  inconsequential  work  characterized  kindergarten 
methods. 

To  get  at  the  truth,  let  us  first  remember  that  Froebel, 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  1 9 

the  apostle  of  the  kindergarten,  left  us  not  only  the 
apparatus  of  the  kindergarten  but  also  a  body  of  doctrine, 
a  set  of  principles  which  are  so  true,  so  inspiring,  so 
vitalizing,  as  to  constitute  a  priceless  possession.  When 
we  grasp  the  meaning  of  these  principles  and  try  to 
apply  them,  we  are  at  once  impressed  by  their  practical 
value  no  less  than  by  their  beauty.  Indeed,  one  who 
becomes  filled  with  their  influence  changes  his  whole 
attitude  toward  education.     Let  me  illustrate. 

I  am  very  fond  of  Froebel's  claim  that  there  is  no  true 
education  where  the  child  is  not  made  conscious  of  power. 
And  Froebel  distinctly  means  power.  He  is  to  be  made 
conscious  of  power ;  he  is  not  to  be  made  conscious  of 
failure. 

Here  is  surely  a  beautiful  thought.  The  keyword 
is  the  adjective  "conscious."  In  its  broader  treatment 
it  means  that  the  child  is  to  be  made  conscious  of  his 
divine  possibilities.  Not  only  must  we  know  his  power 
but  he  must  know  it.  Unless  he  is  conscious  of  his 
power,  there  is  no  adequate  education.  A  child  cannot 
develop  what  he  does  not  know  that  he  possesses.  But 
too  frequently  it  is  not  power  that  is  emphasized  by  the 
teacher,  but  failure.  In  the  marking  of  a  language  paper, 
for  example,  is  not  the  emphasis  placed  on  the  errors? 
But  why  not  also  on  the  successes  ?  Which  will  stimulate 
a  boy  more  vitally,  to  know  that  he  can  do  a  thing  or  to 
know  that  he  cannot  do  it?  Do  we  like  to  do  things 
we  succeed  in  doing  or  those  we  fail  in  doing?  Is  the 
perpetual  emphasis  on  error  likely  to  make  a  boy  so 


20  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

believe  in  himself  that  he  will  resolve  to  conquer  all 
obstacles?  In  morals  the  truth  shines  clearly.  If  a 
child  resists  a  dozen  temptations  to  do  wrong  and  fails 
at  the  thirteenth,  we  punish  him  for  that  failure.  That 
is  where  the  emphasis  is  placed.  Ilis  successful  efforts 
to  resist  temptation  count  for  nothing;  but  there  is  where 
the  emphasis  belongs,  according  to  Froebel.  With  us  his 
failure  is  all  that  counts.  Surely  our  duty  is  to  make 
him  conscious  of  his  power  when  he  succeeds.  He  will 
try  the  harder  next  time.  This  does  not  ehminate  pun- 
ishment, but  it  eUminates  most  of  the  conditions  that 
make  punishment  necessary.  So  it  is  with  the  curricu- 
lum. The  earnest,  honest  effort  is  the  important  fact, 
for  herein  lies  the  consciousness  of  power ;  the  error  is  the 
subordinate  matter.  The  subject  is  a  fascinating  one. 
It  is  a  subject  which  teachers  have  studied  only  in  its 
elements.  That  the  vital  principle  involved  dominates 
our  educational  practice  is  far  from  the  truth.  When  it 
does,  not  only  will  our  methods  of  teaching  be  revised, 
but  our  marking  systems  will  not  compare  child  with 
child,  for  the  premium  will  be  based  on  the  only  possible 
comparison,  that  of  the  child  with  himself.  In  that  happy 
day  our  merit  Hsts  will  not  exalt  one  child  and  humiliate 
another,  and  the  "cwm  laude"  on  the  high  school  com- 
mencement program  will  disappear  with  all  other  in- 
genious contrivances  for  emphasizing  partial  defeat. 
We  shall  then  learn  that  all  methods  which  make  a  child 
believe  he  cannot  achieve  are  vicious. 

Here  are  no  blocks  or  zephyr  or  other  occupation 


THE    KINDERGARTEN  21 

materials,  but  every  one  must  admit  that  we  are  in  the 
presence  of  a  principle  that  goes  to  the  very  basis  of  child 
training,  whether  at  home  or  in  school,  and  at  all  ages. 
In  the  kindergarten  the  principle  is  described  as  self- 
revelation. 

Let  us  look  at  another  Froebelian principle.  Translated 
into  ordinary  speech,  it  expresses  the  demand  that  all 
methods  should  be  based  upon  data  afforded  by  the 
children  themselves.  It  would  seem  that  when  children 
in  large  numbers,  here,  there,  everywhere,  resist  a 
subject  or  method,  that  subject  or  method  is  wrong  at 
that  stage  of  their  progress.  And,  conversely,  when  the 
children  receive  a  subject  or  phase  of  a  subject  gladly, 
it  would  seem  that  that  subject  or  phase  of  the  subject 
is  clearly  indicated  as  right.  Indeed,  one  might  deduce 
a  law  regarding  the  appropriateness  of  subjects,  or  the 
time  and  method  of  their  introduction,  to  be  known  as 
the  law  of  the  least  resistance.     Now  what  are  the  facts  ? 

How  long  did  it  take  us  to  learn  that  arithmetic  has 
no  place  in  the  earlier  grades  ?  For  years  and  years  the 
children  said  so.  They  resisted  the  subject,  learned  it 
with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  forgot  it  with  the  great- 
est facihty;  their  acquirements  were  insignificant,  and 
if  the  subject  was  omitted  in  the  first  grade  the  children 
were  as  far  along  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  grade  as 
if  the  subject  had  been  taken  for  two  years.  From  a 
Froebelian  point  of  view  this  amounts  to  proof,  and  the 
educational  world  is  gradually  accepting  the  only  pos- 
sible conclusion.    Why  were  we  so  slow  ?   Merely  because 


22  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

we  evolved  the  appropriateness  of  arithmetic  from  our 
heads  and  not  from  the  facts  of  childhood. 

Conversely,  why  have  we  been  so  slow  in  learning 
that  little  children  are  the  best  language  students  in  the 
world,  that  early  childhood  is  the  golden  time  for  lan- 
guage ?  And  specifically,  how  slow  we  are  in  learning 
that  the  child's  speech  is  oral  speech  and  that  written 
speech  is  an  exotic.  In  oral  speech  the  child  is  fluent  and 
idiomatic,  and  reveals  himself.  In  written  speech  he 
is  artificial  and  clumsy,  and  does  not  reveal  himself. 
He  comes  to  school  with  plenty  of  language ;  we  put  a 
pencil  in  his  hand  and  freeze  him  up.  The  written  speech 
will  develop,  but  not  yet,  and  very  slowly.  It  is  a  mis- 
fortune and  an  error  that  we  do  not  derive  our  courses  of 
study  from  children,  but  from  our  own  self-consciousness. 
But  Froebel  says  the  child  must  be  our  chief  study.  It 
would  seem  that  to  many  superintendents,  in  preparing 
courses  of  study,  it  has  never  occurred  that  there  are 
children  in  the  world  who  could  be  seen  if  it  were  thought 
that  that  were  really  necessary. 

What  but  a  perverse  or  ignorant  disregard  of  Froebel's 
law,  a  disregard  of  the  richest  field  of  data,  the  cliildren 
themselves,  will  explain  the  vagaries  of  nature  study? 
Any  one  who  will  read  the  curricula  on  this  subject  for 
the  last  twenty  years  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  for 
the  most  part  the  facts  of  childhood,  children's  loves  and 
tendencies,  have  been  the  last  thing  thought  of.  Slowly, 
we  are  tending  in  the  right  direction,  but  not  from  any 
consciousness  that  the  children  must  determine  the  course 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  23 

of  study,  which  is  the  Froebelian  law.  To  give  an  ex- 
ample, and,  at  the  same  time,  be  specific,  the  love  of  chil- 
dren for  living  things  has  been  ignored  or  catered  to  ac- 
cidentally in  the  primary  and  lower  grammar  grades,  and 
is  now  very  slowly  receiving  systematic  consideration. 

These  instructions  might  stretch  on  indefinitely.  Let 
any  one  apply  just  this  one  law  to  our  schools  and  trace 
the  long  hne  of  violations  in  courses  of  study,  in  the  time 
at  which  subjects  are  presented  and  in  the  special  method 
of  presentation.  One  need  not  stop  at  the  primary  school. 
He  may  pursue  his  investigation  through  the  grammar 
school  and  the  high  school.  Indeed,  he  will  find  the  high 
school  a  very  Golconda  of  false  methods  from  the  point 
of  view  under  consideration.  Suppose  we  were  to  open 
our  eyes  to  the  facts  of  boyhood  and  girlhood  and  humbly 
be  guided  by  them,  and  base  our  teaching  and  courses  of 
study  upon  them,  abandoning  egotism  and  tradition.  A 
genuine  revival  in  teaching  would  come  to  pass.  That  is 
the  gospel  of  the  kindergarten. 

Finally  :  let  us  think  of  another  Froebehan  law  —  that 
of  self-activity.  I  have  discussed  this  before.  I  desire 
at  this  time  only  to  link  the  idea  with  the  kindergarten 
law.  The  meaning  of  the  law  is  easy  to  understand. 
It  is  the  right  of  the  pupil  that  no  one  shall  tell  him  his 
mistakes  unless  he  does  not  know  that  they  are  mistakes. 
Every  time  a  teacher  shows  a  child  his  error  in  anything, 
he  violates  the  law  of  self-activity  and  retards  his  edu- 
cation. 

The  self-activity  of  the  child  is,  at  the  beginning,  of  the 


24  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

most  modest  kind.  The  fact  that  he  goes  on  day  after 
day  doing  things  that  he  knows  are  wrong  indicates  how 
little  real  effort  he  is  putting  forth.  But  why  not  demand 
the  full  quota  of  his  self-activity,  as  indicated  above  ! 
Why  should  not  the  child  be  feeble  ?  Why  should  not  the 
results  be  inconsequential  ?  The  teacher  assists  when 
there  should  be  no  assistance,  he  explains  when  there 
should  be  no  explanation.  He  interferes  with  the  child's 
right  to  do  things  himself,  he  meddles,  and  this  he  does 
all  the  time  and  in  a  systematic  manner  as  if  with  a  settled 
theory  as  to  its  propriety.  When  the  mahgn  practice 
based  on  this  theory  is  persisted  in  year  after  year,  the 
tendency  is  to  necrosis  of  the  will.  Some  high  schools 
make  one  think  that  this  disease  has  actually  set  in. 

And  the  law  holds  good  in  the  learning  of  things  as 
well  as  in  their  practice  or  drill.  No  teacher  has  the 
right  to  help  a  boy  to  understand  an  application  of  per- 
centage that  he  can  understand  without  help.  It  is  a 
wrong  done  to  the  boy.  He  is  defrauded  of  the  right  to 
exert  his  own  powers,  through  which  exertion  alone,  in 
Froebel's  opinion,  he  can  be  educated.  It  is  surprising 
how  much  even  the  very  little  children  of  the  first  grade 
do  for  themselves.  We  teach  them  reading,  of  course, 
but  if  in  addition  to  the  formal  teaching  we  give  the 
child  unlimited  facilities  for  interesting  and  appropriate 
silent  reading,  put  him  in  a  bath,  so  to  speak,  of  silent 
reading,  he  will  soon  demonstrate  how  unnecessary  much 
of  our  teaching  is,  and  if  unnecessary,  then,  of  course, 
how  injurious.     The  formal  teaching  will  go  on,  but  it 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  25 

will  rapidly  change  its  character,  for  the  children  have 
become  partners  in  the  business.  This  lesson  is  learned 
by  few  teachers.  The  formal  reading  lesson  appears  in 
the  upper  grades  as  a  method  of  teaching  reading. 
Indeed,  we  are  forever  teaching  reading.  We  seem 
never  to  be  able  to  say  we  have  taught  it.  The  con- 
ferring of  the  power  to  read  from  the  printed  page  should 
have  been  completed  in  the  lower  grades.  The  oral 
reading  lesson  has  its  function  in  the  upper  grades,  but 
that  function  is  not  to  teach  children  how  to  read. 

The  appKcation  of  this  idea  to  moral  education  opens 
up  a  fascinating  field  of  thought,  but  we  can  only  hint  at 
it  here.  Briefly,  if  by  discipline  we  make  it  impossible 
to  do  wrong,  we  at  the  same  time  make  choice  impossible. 
Activity  impHes  resistance.  If  there  is  no  possibility 
of  resistance  (that  is,  if  it  is  impossible  to  do  wrong) 
there  is  no  exercise,  and  if  there  is  no  exercise  there  is  no 
growth.  There  must  be  choice,  and  choice  means  self- 
activity. 

Here  again,  the  widest  field  for  thought  is  opened  up. 
EHminate  the  violation  of  the  law  of  self- activity  and  the 
public  schools  would  not  know  themselves.  But  then 
we  would  be  doing  only  what  every  true  kindergartner 
proposes  to  herself.  The  child  leaves  the  kindergarten, 
where  self-activity  is  always  predicted  of  him.  He 
goes  into  the  grades,  where,  to  a  very  large  extent,  self- 
activity  is  an  unknown  quantity,  and  where  it  is  hkely 
to  be  accidental  when  it  does  enter. 

All  education   is    continuous.     The    artificial    terms 


26  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

which  we  apply  to  distinguish  various  stages  of  progress 
in  the  child's  development  should  not  denote  different 
things  but  different  phases  of  the  same  thing.  The 
standard  for  all  education,  by  whatever  artificial  des- 
ignation we  describe  any  of  its  phases,  is  the  im- 
mutable law  of  child  development. 

When  reduced  to  its  simplest  statement,  this  is  what 
the  kindergarten  stands  for,  —  the  immutable,  the  divine 
law  of  child  development.  Froebel's  famous  precept  is, 
"Come,  let  us  Uve  with  the  children."  This  does  not 
mean  the  babies  only ;  it  means  the  boy,  the  youth,  the 
maiden,  the  high  school  student,  as  well.  It  is  the 
ultimate  principle  of  education.  Froebel  says:  "The 
object  of  education  is  the  realization  of  a  faithful, 
pure,  inviolate  and  hence  holy  life."  I  am  enamoured 
of  his  definition  of  education.  He  says  it  is  the  develop- 
ment of  the  divine  unity  in  every  child. 


CHAPTER  III 

contesruity  between  the  kindergarten  and  the 
Elementary   School 

In  passing  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  primary  school 
there  is  a  break.  Do  what  you  will  to  soften  the  change, 
to  modify  the  break,  it  still  remains  a  break.  Three  general 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  difficulty  have  been  employed : 
(i)  To  provide  a  connecting  class  to  take  the  child  out 
of  his  kindergarten  habits  and  introduce  him  to  those 
of  the  primary  school;  in  the  words  of  some  teachers, 
"To  make  him  over."  (2)  To  modify  the  kindergarten 
so  as  to  make  it  more  nearly  resemble  the  primary  school. 
(3)  To  modify  the  primary  school  so  as  to  make  it  more 
nearly  resemble  the  kindergarten.  There  is  only  one 
effective  way  to  continue  the  vital  development  of  the 
child  through  his  whole  school  course.  All  teachers  in 
primary,  grammar,  and  high  schools  should  be  trained  in 
the  fundamental  principles  of  Froebel. 

Now  if  anything  is  clear  in  the  Froebelian  doctrine 
it  is  this,  that  there  are  no  breaks  in  human  develop- 
ment and  should  be  none  in  education.  The  human  being 
shows  wide  variations  when  we  compare  him  with  him- 
self at  different  periods  of  his  life,  but  these  changes 
always  take  place  gradually.     This  is  Froebel's  language : 

27 


28  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

''Sharp  limits  and  definite  subdivisions  within  the  con- 
tinuous series  of  the  years  of  development,  withdrawing 
from  attention  the  permanent  continuity,  the  living 
connection,  the  inner  living  essence,  are  therefore  highly 
pernicious,  and  even  destructive  in  their  influence." 
And  the  truth  is  not  only  Froebelian,  it  is  self-evident,  it  is 
common  sense. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  fact  of  the  break  just 
noted  is  not  only  un-Froebelian,  it  is  unpsychological, 
it  is  not  common  sense.  It  indicates  that  we  have 
abandoned  the  simple  principles  of  Froebel,  of  psychology 
even,  and  have  intruded  ourselves  into  the  problem.  We 
have  introduced  an  artificial  consideration  somewhere, 
or  we  should  not  have  this  glaring  absurdity  in  our  school 
system  staring  us  in  the  face. 

For,  let  us  note,  we  are  not  to  "make  the  child  over" ; 
that  is  precisely  what  we  must  not  do.  In  succeeding 
in  making  the  child  over  we  do  him  an  injury  even  if  he 
were  wrong  before,  for  Nature  does  not  make  things 
right  in  that  way.  The  suspicion  might  arise  in  such 
cases  whether  it  is  not  the  teacher  who  needs  to  be  made 
over. 

Let  us  note  further,  in  view  of  this  thought  of  contin- 
uous development,  that  the  primary  school  is  not  to 
approximate  the  kindergarten.  Who  had  a  right  to 
make  the  kindergarten  a  standard?  It  would  be  a 
standard,  by  the  way,  exceedingly  hard  to  define  in 
the  divergent  practical  aspects  it  now  presents  to  the 
educational    world.     And    still    further,    it   is    equally 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   AND   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOL      29 

illogical  to  speak  of  approximating  the  kindergarten  to 
the  primary  school. 

There  is  no  kindergarten,  there  is  no  primary  school 
in  any  such  sense  as  the  terms  are  understood  in  such  a 
discussion.  There  is  but  one  fact  that  is  real,  and  that 
is  development.  The  artificial  terms  which  we  apply 
to  distinguish  various  stages  of  progress  in  this  develop- 
ment should  not  denote  different  things  but  different 
phases  of  the  same  thing.  But  the  terms  kindergarten 
and  primary  school  imply  a  sharp  distinction,  a  sharper 
distinction,  indeed,  than  that  between  the  first  and  second 
grades  of  the  primary  school.  This  is  not  the  only  place 
in  the  school  course  in  which,  as  a  result  of  the  use  of 
terms,  a  sharp  dividing  Hne  is  drawn  where  no  such  line 
should  be.  A  striking  example  is  to  be  found  in  the  atti- 
tude of  high  school  teachers  toward  grammar  school  boys 
upon  their  entrance  into  the  high  school.  The  friction 
that  suddenly  develops  at  this  point  and  the  failure  of  the 
entering  students  both  as  regards  discipline  and  scholar- 
ship are  well  known  to  teachers.  The  explanation  is 
simple.  The  student  has  not  changed  his  identity  in 
entering  the  high  school,  but  the  high  school  teacher 
thinks  he  has  just  because  he  has  been  given  a  new  name. 

Let  us  start,  then,  with  this  proposition,  that  to 
standardize  an  artificial  thing  as  a  basis-^f  comparison 
with  another  artificial  thing  is  unpedagogjpal.  This 
postulate  having  been  grasped,^the  logical- course  becomes 
very  clear  and  simple.  The  standard  for  all  education, 
by  whatever  artificial  designation  we  describe  any  of  its 


30  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

phases,  is  the  immutable  law  of  child  development.  The 
kindergarten  is  logically  but  an  expression  of  this  law 
for  one  period  of  school  life  and  the  primary  school, 
grammar  school,  high  school,  and  college,  expressions  for 
other  periods.  We  have  claimed  far  too  little  for  the 
Froebelian  doctrine  when  we  have  timidly  advocated  its 
apphcation  to  the  primary  school.  It  is  not  only  appli- 
cable to  the  whole  of  education;  it  is  its  inexorable  law. 
In  the  following  discussion,  no  attempt,  therefore,  will  be 
made  to  confine  Froebelian  thought  to  primary  education. 

Let  us  assume  that  the  law  of  child  development  is 
conveyed  with  reasonable  adequacy  in  the  Froebelian  phi- 
losophy. This  assumption  is  near  enough  the  truth  — 
indeed,  it  is  wonderfully  near  the  truth.  What  are  the 
lessons  to  be  derived  concerning  the  conduct  of  the  kin- 
dergarten and  the  subsequent  education  of  the  child  ? 

Let  us  consider  first  the  post-kindergarten  period,  the 
period  of  the  so-called  grades.  Usuall}^  a  most  optimistic 
state  of  mind  is  evident.  The  influence  of  the  kinder- 
garten on  the  primary  school  has  been  taken  for  granted, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  primary  school  has  been  shown  to 
have  changed  for  the  better  along  the  fines  of  Froe- 
befian  thought.  Besides  this,  the  kindergarten  material 
has  entered  the  primary  schools.  The  writer  is  far 
from  entering  into  full  participation  with  this  optimism. 
One  may  gratefully  and  gladly  concede  that  such  a 
change  in  spirit  is  evident,  but  he  must  repress  his  trans- 
ports when  he  begins  to  reafize  to  how  Hmited  an  extent 
the  change  has  taken  place.     The  superintendent  who 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   AND   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOL      3 1 

longs  for  the  Froebel  millennium  must  sadly  admit  that 
many  a  primary  teacher  has  received  but  little  of  the  divine 
fire,  and  that  in  the  cases  of  many  more  the  new  spirit 
is  at  best  a  modifying  influence  and  by  no  means  a 
dominating  one.  In  the  grammar  schools  the  picture  is 
darker,  and  in  the  high  school  almost  invisible.  Again, 
and  this  is  the  important  consideration,  the  influence 
which  has  brought  about  the  happier  condition  is,  so  far 
as  the  teacher  is  concerned,  not  consciously  that  of  the 
kindergarten.  It  may  be,  and  to  some  extent  doubtless 
is,  indirectly  that  of  the  kindergarten,  but  the  teacher 
who  is  affected  by  it  does  not  know  it.  This  is  the  same 
thing  as  to  say  that  the  vitalizing  Froebelian  thought 
which  has  done  so  much  for  the  kindergartner  has  done 
little  for  the  primary  teacher,  and  that  little  in  a  round- 
about way.  The  real  thing  is  clearly  seen  when  the 
kindergarten-trained  teacher  enters  the  primary  or  gram- 
mar school.  No  greater  blessing  has  come  to  the  schools 
in  these  later  years  than  the  entrance  of  the  kinder- 
garten-trained teacher  into  the  grades.  But  often  even 
she  sees  but  dimly  the  beauty  of  the  gospel  she  has 
learned,  except  as  it  is  revealed  in  orthodox  kinder- 
garten lines  of  expression.  Nevertheless,  the  possibili- 
ties of  such  young  women  under  a  sympathetic  train- 
ing are  most  hopeful.  They  make  our  best  primary 
teachers.  It  is  a  question,  however,  whether  the  in- 
troduction of  the  kindergarten  material  into  the  primary 
schools  has  not  been  productive  of  as  much  harm  as  good. 
These  materials  have  no  value  in  themselves.     They  re- 


32  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

ceive  a  value  in  the  kindergarten  because  they  furnish  a 
medium  for  the  expression  of  a  Froebelian  thought.  But 
to  the  primary  teacher  they  have  no  such  value,  and 
to  the  kindergartner,  acting  as  a  primary  teacher,  they 
are  likely  to  lose  their  meaning  when  divorced  from  their 
standard  use.  Such  materials  have  become  the  occasion 
of  a  frightful  waste  of  time,  as  all  the  materials  must  that 
are  used  without  a  comprehension  of  their  meaning.  In 
many  cases  they  are  relegated  to  the  time  allotted  to 
the  out-and-out  idling  known  as  ''busy  work." 

It  can  never  be  said  that  the  principles  of  Froebel  are 
acting  on  the  school  until  they  act  directly  on  the  teacher. 
And  it  must  further  be  kept  in  mind  that  kinder- 
garten materials  and  kindergarten  methods  have 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  matter.  The  methods 
and  materials  will  be  determined  by  the  facts  of  the 
case.  It  by  no  means  follows  that  because  the  blocks 
and  tablets  and  zephyr  furnish  an  adequate  means  of 
expressing  a  FroebeUan  principle  at  the  sub-primary  or 
so-called  kindergarten  age,  the  same  material  is  its  ade- 
quate expression  in  the  fourth  or  seventh  grade.  The 
method  and  the  material  vary,  the  material  may  even 
disappear,  but  the  Froebelian  principle  is  evermore  reg- 
nant. The  logical  mode  of  procedure  would  seem  to  be : 
given  a  principle,  what  is  the  proper  method  or  medium 
for  its  expression  at  this  or  that  point  in  the  child's 
progress  ?  If  we  search  for  the  violations  of  this  obvious 
principle  in  our  teachings,  their  grossness,  importance, 
and  frequency  will  be  startling. 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   AND   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOL      33 

As  a  further  illustration  of  this  broad  treatment  of  the 
elementary  school  from  a  Froebelian  point  of  view,  let  us 
think  of  another  Froebelian  law  —  that  of  self-activity. 
In  the  usual  discussions  of  this  law  we  seem  to  be  unable 
to  see  in  it  anything  but  manual  training.  But  its  appli- 
cation throughout  the  course  of  study  should  be  univer- 
sal, and  its  violations  are  so  numerous  and  disastrous  as 
to  suggest  the  suspicion  that  the  principle  enters  only  to 
the  most  trifling  extent  into  school  administration. 

The  pupil  reaches  the  upper  grades  of  the  grammar 
school  and  the  high  school,  it  is  claimed,  weak  in  the 
technique  of  writing,  and  feeble  as  regards  thought. 
In  passing,  why  should  his  thought  not  be  feeble  ?  So 
much  mental  effort  must  be  expended  on  form  that  he  has 
none  left  for  thought.  If  technique  could  ever  become 
automatic,  his  whole  effort  could  go  out  to  the  thought. 
But  technique  becomes  automatic  very  slowly,  under 
present  conditions,  and  never  reaches  any  high  standard 
unless,  indeed,  it  becomes  automatically  wrong.  That 
is  a  result  that  may  be  attained  with  surprising  rapidity. 

One  specific  illustration  of  the  great  law  of  self-revela- 
tion must  suffice  for  this  part  of  the  discussion.  There 
is  an  interesting  statement  in  Froebel's  discussion  of 
the  teaching  of  language,  to  the  effect  that,  through  read- 
ing, man  attains  personahty.  The  substance  of  the  dis- 
cussion is  that  through  reading  the  soul  is  raised  into  self- 
consciousness.  But  who  can  watch  a  reading  lesson 
in  most  primary  grades  and  believe  that  through  it  the 
child's  soul  is  attaining  self -consciousness  ?    The  monoto- 


34  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

nous  expression,  the  apathetic  looks  of  the  children, 
the  fitful  attention  and  feeble  interest,  all  indicate  what  is 
being  attained,  —  a  slowly  developing  power  to  translate 
the  characters  in  the  book  into  speech.  But  the  vital 
fact  of  reading  as  an  art  whereby  the  child  discovers  him- 
self is  practically,  if  not  absolutely,  absent.  The  teacher 
looks  for  it  in  a  hopeless  way  or  not  at  all.  The 
child  must  discover  his  personality,  not  through  words, 
nor  even  through  the  meanings  of  words,  but  through  the 
thought  of  the  story.  Therefore  the  story  is  the  prin- 
cipal aim  of  the  teaching,  the  power  of  word  recogni- 
tion the  subordinate  aim,  for  the  former  is  the  reason 
for  desiring  the  latter.  There  is  many  a  teacher  who 
would  stare  if  he  were  advised  to  tell  or  read  the  story 
frequently  before  developing  the  words. 

This  perfunctory  treatment  of  reading  in  the  earlier 
grades  is  continued  in  the  later  grades  in  a  most  absurd 
manner  and  is  paralleled  in  the  other  subjects  of  the 
course.  The  Froebelian  idea  is  that  the  study  is  of 
value,  not  in  itself,  but  in  view  of  its  reaction  on  the 
divine  essence.  But  much  of  the  teaching  that  we  see 
places  the  emphasis  on  the  subject  in  innocent  oblivion 
to  the  existence  of  any  such  thing  as  a  reaction.  How 
else  is  the  dominance  of  the  fetish  knowm  as  arithmetic 
to  be  explained  ?  Here  matters  are  frequently  taught,  not 
because  of  their  reaction  or  even  in  view  of  their  subse- 
quent usefulness,  but  just  because  they  always  have  been 
taught.  For  example,  the  teacher  spends  considerable 
time  in  teaching,  drilling,  and  re\'iewing  a  subject  known 


THE    KINDERGARTEN    AND    ELEMENTARY    SCHOOL      35 

as  "Least  Common  Multiple,"  with  the  full  knowledge 
that  he  has  never  used  the  process  in  his  life,  except  to 
teach  it,  and  that  the  pupil  never  will  either.  It  is  merely 
a  matter  of  tradition. 

Here  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  great  parting  of  the 
ways,  Froebel  says  the  fundamental  consideration  is  the 
child,  his  personahty.  All  else  is  to  be  considered  in  view 
of  its  reaction  on  this  divine  entity.  The  opposing  view 
holds :  there  are  subjects  to  be  taught.  The  child  is 
a  convenient  thing  to  teach  them  to.  You  cannot  teach 
geography  without  children.  Therefore  we  must  have 
children  in  the  schools,  but  the  geography  is  the  im- 
portant fact  and  the  child  must  accommodate  himself 
to  it.  Included  between  these  two  extreme  views  range 
the  teachers  of  the  country,  the  mass  practically  adhering 
to  the  un-FroebeHan  view.  Once  more,  let  us  search  our 
practice.  Let  us  bow  to  the  Froebelian  law  of  self- 
revelation.  Let  us  make  the  child  the  starting-point  for 
our  courses  of  study  and  our  methods.  When  we  do 
that  our  schools  will  be  revolutionized  and  the  Froebelian 
thought  will  be  incarnated  in  our  children. 

It  is  necessary  to  deal  thus  frankly  with  the  post- 
kindergarten  section  of  our  school  system.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  show  that  the  Froebehan  doctrine,  not  the 
kindergarten,  is  the  standard.  It  is  necessary  to  show, 
also,  that  the  change  in  courses  of  study,  in  methods  of 
teaching,  and  in  every  detail  of  school  administration 
that  must  and  will  come  from  an  honest  effort  to  realize 
the  Froebelian  thought,  is  startling. 


36  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

But  what  of  the  kindergarten  itself  ?  Are  all  kinder- 
gartners  really  true  to  Froebel  ?  Do  not  some  of  them 
exalt  the  letter  above  the  spirit?  Froebel  made  two 
bequests.  First,  he  bequeathed  us  a  body  of  doctrine 
which  is  so  true,  so  inspiring,  so  vitalizing,  that  it  is  a 
priceless  possession.  Modern  psychology  has  modified 
some  of  this  doctrine.  That  was  to  be  expected,  and  the 
contributions  of  psychology  should  be  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged. Surely  a  man  like  Froebel,  who  looked  at  truth 
with  such  open  eyes,  must  have  himself  expected  that 
this  would  happen.  But  modern  psychology  has  also 
given  its  indorsement  to  most  of  Froebel's  teachings,  to 
all  indeed  that  we  hold  dear. 

Second,  Froebel  bequeathed  us  a  series  of  directions 
to  enable  us  to  concrete  his  principles.  Most  of  these 
relate  to  the  sub-primary  period  of  instruction,  the  so- 
called  kindergarten  period.  A  few  relate  to  the  conduct 
of  subjects  in  later  grades.  It  was  to  be  expected  that 
eventually  two  schools  of  kindergarten  practice  would 
develop,  the  one  emphasizing  the  Froebelian  principles, 
the  other  the  Froebelian  practice. 

Is  it  not  fair  to  press  upon  the  attention  of  kindergart- 
ners  the  same  mode  of  thinking  which  we  have  demanded 
from  the  Froebehan  standpoint  in  the  foregoing  treat- 
ment of  the  so-called  grades  ?  When  a  kindergartner  in- 
sists on  the  use  of  a  series  of  gifts  and  occupations 
just  because  they  were  prescribed  by  Froebel,  or  any  one 
else,  how  does  she  differ  from  a  primary  teacher  who  per- 
sists  in  using   methods    that    also    have    the  sanction 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   AND   ELEMENTARY   SCHOOL      37 

of  many  honored  names  in  the  past  ?  If  the  kinder- 
gartner  claims  that  she  is  using  the  materials  because 
they  express  the  Froebelian  principles,  then  she  must 
in  all  fairness  demand  that  we  follow  throughout  the 
post-kindergarten  course  the  methods  of  teaching  draw- 
ing prescribed  by  Froebel.  In  the  present  development 
of  art  study  in  the  schools,  this  would  be  the  reducHo  ad 
absurdum.  Indeed,  from  this  point  of  view  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  primary  school  has  shown  more  open- 
ness of  mind  than  some  of  the  champions  of  the  kinder- 
garten. Are  we  not  indeed  violating  the  fundamental 
demand  of  Froebel  himself  in  exalting  the  practice  above 
the  principle?  Listen:  "For  the  living  thought,  the 
eternal  divine  principle,  as  such  demands  and  requires 
free  self-activity  and  self-determination  on  the  part  of 
man."  Why  should  this  self-determination  be  granted 
to  the  child  and  be  withheld  from  the  teacher  ?  Is  not  its 
application  universal  ? 

The  fealty  of  the  kindergartner  to  Froebel  is  beautiful; 
and  she  has  fought  so  many  fights  in  his  behalf  that  every 
fact  of  the  kindergarten  has  become  dear  to  her.  Yet 
the  great  fact  remains  that  if  all  education  is  to  fuse 
into  one,  the  kindergartner  must  do  as  she  expects  the 
primary  teacher  to  do,  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  children 
and  ask  them  what  is  right.  They  know  and  they  only. 
They  do  not  know  that  they  know,  but  they  know, 
and  they  will  tell  us  if  we  know  how  to  ask  and  are  not 
too  proud  to  ask.  No  method  of  embodying  Froebel's 
thought,  no  matter  how  valuable,  can  stand  a  moment 


38  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

after  we  have  discovered  a  better.  The  principle  of  self- 
activity  is  eternal ;  the  third  gift  is  a  possible  expression. 
It  was  Froebel's  expression,  but  after  all  the  important 
consideration  is  the  self-activity  and  not  the  third  gift. 
It  must  be  expressed  in  a  thousand  ways  in  the  primary 
and  grammar  and  high  school  grades.  Why  are  not 
many  ways  possible  in  the  kindergarten  ? 

It  seems  to  the  writer  that  the  truth  of  the  postulate 
laid  down  early  in  this  article  is  unavoidable :  that  all 
education  is  one  and  that  breaks  are  illogical.  If  this 
be  true,  unity  so  far  as  the  Froebehan  doctrine  is  con- 
cerned must  come  from  an  absolutely  honest  and  unflinch- 
ing apphcation  of  the  Froebelian  laws  to  all  school  Hfe, 
and  this  means  the  kindergarten  as  well  as  the  primary 
or  grammar  school.  When  that  consummation  is  reached 
the  kindergarten  as  a  distinct  institution  will  have  passed 
away,  or  rather  it  will  have  absorbed  within  itself  the 
whole  of  education.  That  will  be  the  day  of  its  trans- 
figuration. The  day  is  hastening.  And  when  one  thinks 
of  the  idea  of  the  divine  purpose  that  runs  all  through 
the  Froebelian  writings,  surely  it  is  not  irreverent  to 
say  of  that  day,  that  "then  the  whole  earth  shall  be 
filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea." 


CHAPTER  IV 

Gumption 

It  is  related  of  a  learned  judge  that  he  once  praised 
a  retiring  witness  in  the  following  words:  "You  are 
entitled  to  great  credit,  sir.  You  must  have  taken 
infinite  pains  with  yourself.  No  man  could  naturally 
be  so  stupid." 

The  English  dictionary  admits  the  word  "gumption" 
and  classifies  it  as  colloquial.  It  is  therefore  a  respectable 
word  and  it  certainly  has  a  respectable  origin  if  any  one 
cares  to  look  it  up.  Like  most  homely  words  it  gives 
the  feeling  of  meaning  just  what  you  want  a  word  to 
mean  and  to  mean  nothing  else.  The  dictionary  defini- 
tions are  "capacity,  shrewdness,"  but  these  do  not 
satisfy.     Let  us  come  back  to  gumption. 

If  one  should  demonstrate  that  the  schools  (including  the 
high  schools)  of  America  are  turning  out  a  mass  of  graduates 
lamentably  deficient  in  gumption,  he  would  raise  ques- 
tions of  the  most  alarming  character.  For  of  what 
value  is  it  to  teach  ever  so  much  arithmetic  if  the 
boy  has  not  the  common  sense  to  make  use  of  it  ?  The 
purpose  of  the  school  is  not  to  put  a  child  in  possession 
of  this  fact  or  of  any  number  of  facts.  It  is  to  develop 
the  personality  so  that  it  shall  be  of  the  greatest  possible 
service  to  him.  No  two  children  bring  the  same  endow- 
ments into  this  world.     But  whatever  his  endowment, 

39 


40  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

a  child  has  the  right  to  demand  of  his  education  that  it 
shall  put  within  his  reach  all  the  prosperity,  happiness, 
and  usefulness  that  the  endowment  will  yield. 

In  "A  Message  to  Garcia,"  Elbert  Hubbard  says:  — 

"No  man  has  endeavored  to  carry  out  an  enterprise 
where  many  hands  were  needed,  but  has  been  well-nigh 
appalled  at  times  by  the  imbecility  of  the  average  man  — 
the  inability  or  unwillingness  to  concentrate  on  a  thing 
and  do  it.  Shpshod  assistance,  foolish  inattention, 
dowdy  indifference,  and  half-hearted  work  seemed  the 
rule ;  and  no  man  succeeds  unless  by  hook  or  crook  or 
threat,  he  forces  or  bribes  other  men  to  assist  him ;  or 
mayhap,  God  in  his  goodness  performs  a  miracle  and 
sends  him  an  angel  of  light  for  an  assistant.  This 
incapacity  for  independent  action,  this  moral  stupidity, 
this  infirmity  of  the  will,  this  unwillingness  to  cheerfully 
catch  hold  and  lift,  are  the  things  that  put  pure  sociaHsm 
so  far  into  the  future." 

Fifty  years  ago  the  writer  of  "Artificial  Production 
of  Stupidity  in  School"  said  of  EngHsh  education:  "  With 
the  exception  of  being  perhaps  able  to  read  with  labor, 
and  to  write  with  difficulty,  the  pupils  must  not  be 
expected,  six  months  after  leaving  school,  to  possess 
any  traces  of  their  'education'  beyond  an  invigorated 
sensorium  and  a  stunted  intelligence." 

Although  there  have  been  many  discoveries  in  educa- 
tion in  fifty  years,  nevertheless,  if  these  witnesses  are  to 
be  trusted,  the  product  of  the  system  continues  mo- 
notonously similar. 


GUMPTION  41 

Let  us  face  a  very  disagreeable  fact.  No  one  who 
thoughtfully  considers  the  data  offered  by  thousands  of 
schoolrooms  can  come  to  any  other  conclusion  than 
that  our  practice,  at  least,  is  fundamentally  wrong.  The 
striking  characteristic  of  the  schoolboy  is  his  attitude 
toward  his  work ;  an  attitude  of  apathy,  of  unwillingness, 
and  apparent  inability  to  grapple  with  a  difficulty. 

To  an  extent  that  would  be  alarming  if  we  had  not 
grown  so  accustomed  to  it,  it  may  be  said  that  the  pupil 
does  not  care.  He  goes  to  school  because  he  is  sent; 
personally,  too  often  he  would  prefer  not  to  go.  In  school 
he  does  the  things  he  is  told  to  do.  He  does  them 
sometimes  well,  often  indifferently,  sometimes  very  badly. 
He  does  not  see  their  importance;  it  never  occurs  to  him 
to  raise  the  question  of  their  importance.  Sometimes 
he  gets  interested  in  the  thing  he  happens  to  be  doing, 
but  the  interest  is  passing  and,  too  often,  feeble.  He 
makes  blunders  in  writing  English  not  because  he  does 
not  know  how  to  write  correctly  but  because  he  has 
no  defined  interest  in  trying  to  write  correctly.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  assume  that  he  desires  to  make  these 
errors ;  he  has  no  desire  of  any  kind  in  connection  with  the 
matter.  Place  him  in  the  baseball  field  and  he  is  alert. 
His  whole  being  is  given  to  the  game.  But  in  his 
language  or  arithmetic  lesson  he  is  inert.  He  will  bring 
in  twenty-six  dollars  as  the  price  of  a  pound  of  butter 
with  complacency.  If  it  suits  the  teacher  or  the 
answer  in  the  book,  it  suits  him.  The  incident  for 
him  is  closed.     A  flashhght  is  thrown  on  this   state  of 


42  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

things  in  a  question  of  one  of  her  Majesty's  inspectors, 
in  the  book  from  which  I  have  already  quoted.  With 
admirable  naivete  he  italicizes  this  question:  "To 
what  purpose  in  after  life  is  a  boy  taught,  if  the  inter- 
vention of  a  school  vacation  is  to  be  a  sufficient  excuse 
for  entirely  forgetting  his  instruction  ?" 

Associated  with  this  state  of  things  is  the  absence  of 
that  valuable,  if  homely,  quality  of  gumption.  It  is 
really  part  and  parcel  of  the  same  trouble.  The  boy 
does  not  bring  to  his  work  the  wit  he  has.  He  makes 
little  effort  to  comprehend  a  situation,  and  of  course  he 
does  not  comprehend  it. 

The  most  melancholy  fact  concerning  this  whole  mat- 
ter is  that  the  boy  grows  worse  throughout  the  course. 
Necessarily,  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  this  is  the  case 
with  every  child  in  our  American  schools,  but  it  describes 
a  condition  so  general  that  one  could  blunder  in  on  its 
realization  almost  anywhere  and  would  really  have  to  try 
to  avoid  it. 

Now  there  is  no  education  without  self-activity.  What 
we  do  for  the  child  counts  but  little  in  comparison  with 
what  he  does  for  himself.  To  send  a  child  out  furnished 
with  facts  and  with  such  a  training  in  relation  to  the 
duties  of  life  as  we  have  described;  to  send  out  a  child 
with  no  serious  purpose  up  to  the  time  he  enters  the  world 
of  business,  is  to  doom  him  to  mediocrity  or  worse. 
Sometimes  a  boy  is  stimulated  by  the  excitements  of  the 
real  whirling  world  of  business,  but  in  general  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  mind  has  acquired  a  permanent  set;   he 


GUMPTION  43 

has  had  no  training  in  facing  problems,  and  he  must  give 
way  to  the  man  who  has. 

I  have  often  desired  to  try  this  experiment.  Take  a 
class  of  boys  and  for  one  week  pay  each  boy  ten  cents 
for  every  example  he  worked  correctly  within  a  given 
time.  For  every  example  that  was  wrong  not  only 
fail  to  pay  this  bounty  but  also  deduct  ten  cents  from 
his  earnings.  Treat  all  the  errors  in  his  compositions 
in  the  same  way.  I  have  an  impression  that  there 
would  be  more  arithmetic  and  language  taught  that 
week  than  during  any  previous  week  of  those  boys' 
school  lives. 

But  this  hypothetical  case  brings  us  directly  to  the 
pupil's  solution  of  the  problem  by  suggesting  a  very 
simple  explanation  of  the  boy's  apathetic  attitude.  He 
thinks  the  effort  is  worth  while  for  the  money  but  is 
not  worth  while  for  the  considerations  we  usually  offer. 
He  will  "  deliver  the  goods  "  if  he  sees  any  profit  in  the 
transaction.  The  theory  often  receives  confirmation  in 
the  classroom  in  ways  that  are  mysterious  to  the  adult. 
Good  work  can  sometimes  be  obtained  by  a  promise 
to  dismiss  a  half  hour  early  all  who  offer  the  good  work. 
A  match  will  bring  out  better  work  than  a  recitation; 
there  is  the  sport  element  here.  The  old  device  of 
''going  up  head"  is  based  on  the  same  principle.  All 
this  means  that  there  are  considerations  that  the  pupil 
thinks  worth  while  and  others  that  he  thinks  are  not 
worth  while.  Whenever  a  teacher  uses  the  worth-while 
consideration  he  gets  effort  from  those  who  think  it  is 


44  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

worth  while,  even  though  the  motive  which  the  boy  thinks 
worth  while  is  a  poor  one. 

But  what  are  the  motives  which  the  school  generally 
offers  ?  I  remember  the  comment  of  a  wise  superintend- 
ent on  the  employment  of  early  dismission  as  a  motive : 
"That,"  said  he,  ''is  wrong  in  principle.  You  hold  up  to 
the  pupil  that  to  avoid  the  opportunity  for  education  is 
a  good  thing,  whereas  you  know  it  is  a  bad  thing.  Now,  if 
you  should  say,  '  Every  one  who  does  good  work  during 
the  day  may  stay  and  continue  his  education  another 
half  hour  with  me,'  you  would  be  logical."  I  confess 
I  cannot  see  the  flaw  in  this  reasoning,  but  every  teacher 
knows  how  it  would  work.  At  least  every  teacher  thinks 
he  knows.  But  the  cases  of  pupils  who  have  actually 
asked  the  privilege  of  working  overtime  in  manual 
training  are  so  numerous  that  perhaps,  after  all,  we  do 
not  know.  And  yet  I  never  knew  a  child  to  ask  per- 
mission to  stay  after  school  that  he  might  continue  his 
parsing. 

Let  us  look  at  the  inducements  we  offer  and  the  esti- 
mates of  children  thereon.  First,  the  value  of  educa- 
tion itself.  Too  vague;  value  not  clear;  too  far  off 
anyway.  Second,  success  in  the  world  as  a  result  of 
education.  Doubtful ;  cannot  see  how ;  at  any  rate  the 
thing  is  pretty  far  off  and  no  use  of  thinking  of  it  for  some 
time  yet.  Third,  approval  of  teacher.  Effective  with 
some,  but  with  most,  though  more  or  less  desirable,  yet 
on  the  whole  not  worth  the  trouble.  Fourth,  marks, 
ratings.     Rather    better    than    the    preceding,    indeed 


GUMPTION  45 

worthy  of  consideration  now  and  then  but  not  enough  to 
warrant  one  in  making  himself  uncomfortable.  Fifth, 
rewards,  prizes.  Rather  effective  with  some,  but  falling 
short  of  a  first-class  stimulant;  falling  far  short,  for 
example,  of  a  half  dollar  for  a  good  week's  work.  Finally, 
promotion,  graduation.  Tolerably  effective  during  May 
and  June. 

There  are  certain  standards  by  which  the  child  un- 
consciously tests  the  inducements  that  are  presented  to 
him.  First,  the  thing  offered  must  be  within  his  compre- 
hension; second,  it  must  appeal  to  his  views  of  what  is 
desirable ;  third,  the  realization  must  be  speedy ;  fourth, 
it  must  affect  his  material  comfort ;  fifth,  it  must  have 
to  do  with  the  living  world. 

The  pubhc  has  demanded  that  we  teach  things  rather 
than  boys.  The  superintendent  writes  a  course  of 
study  in  which  he  introduces  these  things  and  the  board 
of  education  approves  the  superintendent's  work  and 
adds  official  indorsement.  All  that  is  now  needed  is  to 
teach  the  "things"  faithfully  and  carefully  and  the  end 
must  be  blessed.  Knowledge  is  poured  forth  like  water. 
"Let  him  that  is  athirst  come  and  drink."  And  to- 
gether we  all  constitute  "The  Society  for  the  Confusion 
of  Useless  Knowledge." 

For  alas  !  the  important  element  is  not  the  thing  but 
the  boy.  If  the  boy  is  aroused  in  school  to  the  resolute 
endeavor  which  he  shows  in  his  play,  the  wisdom  of  the 
teacher  and  the  course  of  study  have  borne  their  choicest 
fruit.     If  he  is  not  thus  aroused,  no  system  of  teaching 


46  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

facts,  however  orthodox,  will  ever  lead  him  into  the  reali- 
zation of  his  rightful  heritage. 

My  protest  is  against  the  stunting  of  the  inteUigence, 
the  atrophy  of  the  mental  life,  the  artificial  production 
of  stupidity.  These  things  are  being  done  on  a  large 
scale.     There  must  be  a  remedy. 

A  Harvard  student  was  being  shaved  by  a  Boston 
barber  at  a  time  when  Harvard  was  having  a  series  of 
misfortunes  in  the  athletic  field.  It  is  said  that  the 
barber  expressed  himself  to  the  student  thus:  "What 
is  the  matter  with  your  college?  You  can't  play  base- 
ball, you  can't  play  football,  you  can't  row.  What  good 
is  your  college  anyway  ?  All  you  can  do  over  there  is  to 
get  an  education." 

How  has  such  a  standard  of  educational  value  been 
estabUshed  so  widely?  The  sum  of  the  matter  is  this, 
the  child  is  not  interested,  his  real  being  is  not  awakened, 
and  he  emerges  from  school  in  an  undeveloped  state, 
with  no  adequate  comprehension  of  himself  or  of  the 
world  he  is  to  enter.  He  has  lived  in  an  artificial  world 
in  school;  the  real  world  has  been  concealed  from  him. 
His  opinion  as  to  the  relative  importance  of  things 
does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of  the  barber  and, 
indeed,  it  is  probable  that  the  Harvard  student  was  also 
in  substantial  accord  with  the  barber. 

If  the  barber  placed  baseball  above  education,  it  is 
because  he  could  see  something  worth  while  in  baseball, 
but  his  views  on  the  advantage  of  an  education  were 
hazy.     With    the    student   exactly   the   same   state   of 


GUMPTION 


47 


mind  generally  exists.  When  we  can  make  him  really 
beheve  in  an  education  as  he  does  in  baseball,  he  will 
probably  hold  the  same  attitude  toward  education  as 
he  does  toward  baseball. 

But  before  this  can  come  to  pass,  our  educational 
scheme  must  conform  to  his  unconsciously  appHed  tests 
of  desirability.  Let  me  repeat  them:  First,  the  thing 
offered  must  be  within  his  comprehension ;  second,  it 
must  appeal  to  his  views  of  what  is  desirable ;  third,  the 
realization  must  be  speedy;  fourth  it  must  affect  his 
material  comfort ;  fifth  it  must  have  to  do  with  the  living 
world. 

I  desire  to  concentrate  attention  on  the  last  considera- 
tion, the  child's  relation  to  the  hving  world.  The  subject 
of  course  is  not  so  simple  as  to  be  settled  by  one  consid- 
eration. On  the  contrary,  it  is  very  intricate.  But  the 
relating  of  the  child  to  the  real  world  goes  down  deep 
into  the  problem  and,  besides,  is  the  real  explanation 
of  the  necessity  of  those  studies  of  the  course  whose  im- 
portance is  but  little  understood  by  the  pubhc,  or,  indeed, 
by  the  teacher  himself. 

The  moment  one  really  becomes  clearly  conscious  of 
this  characteristic  of  childhood,  this  innate  tendency  of  a 
child  to  relate  himself  to  the  world  in  which  he  finds 
himself,  the  whole  question  of  child-training  takes  on  a 
new  aspect.  The  fact  itself  cannot  be  doubted.  When 
the  infant  imitates  what  his  elders  do  he  is  seeking  to 
adjust  himself  to  the  outside  world,  for  his  elders  consti- 
tute his  world.     When  a  small  boy  smokes  a  cigarette,  he 


48  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

does  not  do  it  principally  because  he  wants  the  cigarette, 
but  because  it  is  a  large  thing  to  do.  The  grown-ups  do 
it  in  the  street.  He  seeks  to  come  into  accord  with  the 
world.  He  takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  elections.  He 
does  not  understand  them.  It  is  sufficient  for  him  that 
they  are  interests  of  the  big  world.  He  yearns  to  go  to 
work  not  because  he  loves  to  work  but  because  the  world 
fascinates  him. 

It  does  not  follow  that  he  is  fond  of  the  world's  work, 
or  that  if  he  were  really  in  the  world  he  would  not 
quickly  weary  of  the  part  of  the  world  in  which  he  found 
himself.  But  this  does  not  set  aside  the  main  fact.  It 
is  true  that  the  boy  does  not  love  monotony,  nor  drudgery, 
or  hard  work,  but  he  loves  the  world ;  its  interests  make 
their  appeal  just  the  same. 

Now,  if  the  school  can  be  so  managed  and  conducted 
that  the  child  will  really  believe  it  is  a  part  of  what  he 
understands  by  the  world,  it  may  receive  from  him  aU 
that  appreciation  with  which  he  regards  the  affairs  of  the 
world.  Let  us  try  to  apply  this  theory.  A  new  phrase 
has  become  current.  It  is  not  really  new;  it  is  only  the 
currency  that  is  new.  The  phrase  is  "  vocational  educa- 
tion." All  education  that  directly  tends  to  prepare  the 
child  for  his  work  in  the  world  is  vocational.  It  may  be 
industrial,  commercial,  agricultural,  professional.  The 
very  term  vocational  makes  an  appeal  to  a  living  interest. 
Let  us  think  of  vocational  training  in  the  light  of  the 
thought  we  are  considering,  the  tendency  of  the  child  to 
relate  himself  to  the  real  world. 


GUMPTION  49 

Here  indeed  is  where  the  industrial  idea  makes  its 
appeal.  It  is  easy  to  illustrate.  Why  do  we  spend  weeks 
in  teaching  the  arithmetic  of  the  laying  of  carpets,  and 
more  weeks  in  the  plastering  of  walls  ?  Most  children  are 
not  going  to  lay  carpets  for  a  living.  It  is  not  a  par- 
ticularly fascinating  subject  to  a  child's  mind.  We  must 
teach  area,  and  the  carpet  business,  within  limitations, 
has  it  place.  But  the  printer  around  the  corner,  whose 
office  the  boy  knows,  is  going  to  print  some  programs 
for  the  school.  How  large  is  the  paper  from  which  he 
cuts  ?  How  many  programs  from  a  sheet  ?  How  many 
sheets  for  a  thousand  programs  ?  A  supposititious  pro- 
gram will  not  do.  The  program  in  the  examples  in  the 
book  will  not  do.     It  must  be  the  very  program  that  this 

school  is  to  have  printed  at  Mr. 's  printing  office. 

The  industrial  idea  immediately  enters.  Before  the  class 
is  through  with  the  job  they  know  a  great  deal  about 
printing,  and  what  is  best  of  all,  the  work  is  connected 
with  life. 

Again,  the  exercise  paper  in  school  is  given  out.  What 
are  its  dimensions?  In  what  sort  of  a  package  does 
it  come  ?  Who  supplies  it  ?  Where  did  he  get  it  ?  We 
go  back  to  the  paper  factory  and  the  paper  as  it  came 
in  a  roll.  How  wide  was  the  roll  ?  Where  was  it  cut  ? 
How  many  pieces  to  a  pound?  How  much  does  our 
package  weigh  ?  What  are  the  freight  charges  for 
transportation  from  the  factory?  Paper  manufacture 
thus  enters  the  school  from  the  great  living,  striving 
business  world. 


so  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

One  more  illustration  in  arithmetic.  They  are  repay- 
ing a  street  near  the  school.  How  wide  is  the  street  ? 
(Actual  measurement  by  pupils.)  Who  has  the  contract  ? 
Price  per  square  yard  ?  Why  per  square  yard  ?  How 
much  for  the  city  block  nearest  the  school,  etc.  ? 

Turning  to  geography,  we  visit  a  White  Star  steamer. 
What  does  she  carry  ?  Where  is  it  from,  and  from  whose 
factories  ?  Where  does  this  engine  go  ?  To  what  city, 
what  concern  ?  What  is  the  ocean  freight  ?  What  was 
the  railroad  freight  and  the  cartage  to  get  it  to  the  ship  ? 

In  all  this  there  must  be  field  work,  actual  inquiry. 
But  the  work  is  no  longer  a  series  of  supposed  cases  in 
the  arithmetic  or  geography,  however  reasonable.  The 
arithmetic  may  well  give  the  suggestions  to  the  teacher, 
but  they  must  be  worked  out  in  the  pupil's  own  neighbor- 
hood and  become  a  part  of  his  actual  experience. 

It  is  clear  to  me  that  the  curriculum  may  be  easily 
manipulated  so  as  to  introduce  the  industrial  and  world 
flavor.  But  it  is  also  clear,  that  because  this  industrial 
flavor  does  not  enter,  the  work  of  the  school  drags  and 
apathy  is  in  the  ascendant.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  ? 
The  child  sees  little  connection  between  the  school- 
room and  the  outside  world.  Huckleberry  Finn  was 
much  interested  in  the  story  of  David  killing  Goliath 
until  he  found  that  David  was  dead.  Then  his  interest 
immediately  ceased,  for  he  "had  no  use  for  dead  folks." 
The  child  in  school  is  evidently  in  the  midst  of  dead 
things ;  at  any  rate  that  is  his  attitude.  It  is  very  easy 
to  place  him  among  the  living. 


GUMPTION  SI 

Such  teaching  as  I  am  advocating  has  been  advocated 
for  a  long  time  and  has  been  actually  carried  out  by  a  few 
advanced  teachers,  but  it  is  lamentably  true  that  the  idea 
finds  but  few  followers  among  the  rank  and  file  of  teachers. 
It  sums  up  the  argument  for  industrial  education,  an  edu- 
cation which  is  closely  related  to  actual  life.  You  cannot 
put  a  ten-year-old  boy  in  a  shop  school,  but  you  can  bring 
him  into  close  touch  with  the  shop,  the  factory,  the  ship, 
the  bank,  with  commerce,  and  with  the  whole  world  of 
business,  before  you  have  changed  his  course  of  study 
at  all.  Why  is  not  such  a  treatment  of  the  child  the 
logical  preparation  for  industrial  education?  Why 
should  we  wait  until  a  boy  is  fourteen  years  old  before 
we  wake  him  up  to  the  fact  that  he  is  living  in  a  real 
world  ? 

In  the  shop  school  of  the  General  Electric  Company  at 
Lynn,  the  students  spend  a  part  of  their  time  in  the 
shop  and  a  part  in  the  classroom.  But  the  classroom  is 
directly  related  to  the  shop,  There  are  three  incen- 
tives for  good  work  in  both  departments,  all  of  them 
very  worldly:  first,  there  is  the  salary;  second,  the 
expectation  of  being  advanced  to  more  important  work  in 
the  shop;  third,  the  possibihty  of  losing  the  job  alto- 
gether. The  work  thus  takes  on  a  highly  practical  caste 
and  the  word  practical  always  brings  us  in  contact  with 
real  affairs. 

But  the  world  is  not  only  the  world  of  affairs.  There  is 
a  world  that  we  call  nature  which  is  just  as  real  and  just 
as  inviting  as  the  world  that  we  call  business.     The  child 


52  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

should  have  a  part  in  the  real  life  of  the  world,  but 
he  should  also  be  brought  into  close  and  loving  touch 
with  the  great  and  deeply  interesting  world  of  Nature. 
That  the  child  should  grow  up  and  know  nothing  of 
the  things  that  grow,  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  that 
shine,  and  the  earth  and  the  sea,  is  an  injustice  to 
him.  But  it  is  also  a  mistake,  for  if  my  contention 
be  true  that  the  child  seeks  life,  then,  by  shutting  him 
out  of  that  life,  we  are  again  drying  up  the  springs  of 
action,  we  are  helping  to  create  that  apathy  which  is  the 
nightmare  of  popular  education. 

There  are  changes  in  educational  practice  that  have 
been  made  in  recent  years,  which  are  not  for  the  better. 
Not  everything  that  is  new  is  good,  and  much  that  is 
old  is  very  good.  But  the  great  change,  a  change  that 
is  in  the  highest  sense  beneficent,  is  the  change  in  atti- 
tude ;  it  is  a  change  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  from  the 
infallible  schoolmaster  attitude  to  that  of  the  humble 
learner.  We  have  reaped  the  harvest  of  our  infallibility 
and  we  ought  to  be  more  humble  than  we  used  to  be. 
We  have  found  out  that  education  is  like  language; 
it  cannot  be  forced  into  the  student,  but  it  is  easily 
absorbed.  We  are  beginning  to  suspect  that  the  child 
will  take  to  education  as  he  does  to  baseball,  but  only 
when  the  baseball  conditions  are  present. 

We  have  not  all  of  us  found  this  out.  With  many  of 
us  it  is  the  story  of  "The  Calf  Path."  Several  hundred 
years  ago  the  calf  found  its  way  home  across  the  fields 
and  through  the  woods  by  a  very  crooked  path.     The 


GUMPTION  53 

next  day  a  dog  followed  in  the  same  path ;  then  the  sheep 
followed,  and  then  men,  until  the  path  became  well  worn 
and  traveled.  In  the  course  of  time  it  became  a  lane,  a 
road,  and  finally  a  city  street,  but  the  zigzags  that  the  calf 
made  were  faithfully  preserved.  No  one  had  ventured 
to  straighten  the  path. 

There  are  yet  many  calf  paths  in  education. 


CHAPTER  V 

Manual  Training 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  public 
became  much  exercised  over  what  it  regarded  as  the 
unpractical  character  of  American  education.  The 
schooling  of  our  youth  was  exclusively  from  books,  and 
our  graduates  swarmed  into  offices  and  stores  fit  for 
nothing  but  clerical  duties  and  not  very  fit  for  those. 
Manual  labor  was  looked  down  upon  by  our  boys  and 
girls ;  those  vocations  requiring  the  use  of  the  hands  were 
suffering  for  competent  workers.  In  the  early  nineties, 
Dr.  Maxwell,  superintendent  of  schools  of  Greater  New 
York,  said:  "The  movement  for  manual  training  is  the 
protest  of  the  people  against  the  hide-bound  conservatism 
of  the  schools ;  it  is  the  demand  for  what  will  be  of  prac- 
tical value  as  opposed  to  what  is  merely  or  largely  ideal ; 
it  is  the  cry  of  thinking  men  and  women  to  schoolmas- 
ters and  school  boards.  Stop  the  memorizing  of  useless 
details  and  teach  our  children  to  form  habits  of  industry, 
train  their  minds  to  plan,  and  their  hands  to  execute." 
The  feehng  brought  about  a  searching  of  hearts  on  the 
part  of  the  educational  world,  and  this  resulted  in  manual 
training. 

But  manual  training,  alas  !  furnishes  an  illustration 
of  a  great  popular  demand  deliberately  set  aside  by  the 

54 


MANUAL   TRAINING  55 

influence  of  the  educators.  It  is  perfectly  clear  and  can 
be  proven  from  the  discussions  of  the  day  that  what  the 
public  wanted  is  what  is  now  called  industrial  educa- 
tion. What  they  got  was  manual  training,  which,  with 
all  its  merits,  is  not  industrial  education.  In  an  address 
made  in  1882  by  Dr.  James  MacAhster,  one  of  the  fore- 
most advocates  of  manual  training  —  then  superin- 
tendent of  schools  of  Philadelphia  and  subsequently 
president  of  the  Drexel  Institute  —  occur  these  words : 
"I  cannot  avoid  the  conviction  that  very  large  numbers 
of  young  persons  are  really  debarred  from  obtaining  any 
benefit  from  secondary  schools  because  of  the  Hmitations 
imposed  upon  their  curricula.  Nearly  one  half  the  class 
leaves  at  the  end  of  the  first  year.  We  shall  not  have  to 
go  far  to  find  an  explanation  of  these  facts.  The  parents 
soon  discover  that  the  education  which  their  children  are 
getting  is  not  going  to  be  of  much  practical  account  to 
them  in  the  business  of  life,  and  so  the  pupils  are  with- 
drawn and  are  placed  at  work.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  these  young  people 
are  intended  for  industrial  pursuits." 

It  is  very  significant  of  the  meaning  of  the  popular 
movement  that  New  Jersey  in  1881  passed  a  law  sub- 
sidizing industrial  education,  and  not  until  1888  a  law 
subsidizing  manual  training.  If  the  legislators  reflected 
public  opinion,  it  is  clear  that  this  movement  at  the  outset 
meant  industrial  training.  But  the  advocates  of  manual 
training  most  strenuously  protested  that  they  were 
not  teaching  trades.     They  were  giving  boys  the  ele- 


56  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

mentary  instruction  that  would  fit  them  to  enter  any 
trade,  and  if  they  did  not  enter  a  trade,  would  supply 
such  a  training  for  the  eye,  the  nerves,  the  hand  and  for 
all  the  mental  faculties  that  the  pupil  would  be  better 
fitted  for  life.  But  to  teach  trades  was  un-American,  it 
was  to  introduce  the  principle  of  caste.  The  American 
educator  was  not  in  full  sympathy  with  the  popular 
demand.  He  gave  the  public  not  what  the  public  asked, 
but  what  in  his  opinion  the  public  ought  to  ask.  It  ap- 
peased the  public,  the  clamor  died  away,  and  manual 
training  became  an  institution. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  because  manual  training 
is  not  industrial  training  it  is  not  a  good  thing.  It  rep- 
resents a  most  beneficent  forward  movement  in  educa- 
tion.    The  following  are  some  of  its  benefits  :  — 

WTiile  the  subject  has  not  pretended  to  fit  the  student 
for  actual  life  it  has  nevertheless  done  so  in  a  most  re- 
markable way.  The  records  of  the  graduating  classes 
of  the  manual  training  high  schools  of  the  country  show 
a  strikingly  large  percentage  of  young  men  who  have 
gone  into  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  the 
mechanical  world.  The  advocates  of  the  subject  are  too 
much  inclined  to  belittle  this  great  result  in  their  efforts 
to  demonstrate  the  purely  educational  advantages  of 
manual  training.  For  example,  in  a  recent  address  at 
Washington  University  the  speaker  said  of  the  earlier 
history  of  this  subject,  "Many  thought  the  institution 
would  develop  into  a  trade  or  industrial  school.  In 
that  case  they  could  see  the  'bread-and-butter  '  utility  of 


MANUAL   TRAINING  57 

manual  training,  but  could  see  in  it  no  genuinely  educa- 
tive value." 

The  advocates  of  manual  training  have  been  insistent 
that  it  should  not  be  identified  with  manual  labor.  Dr. 
Calvin  Woodward,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  these 
advocates,  says,  for  example:  ''Manual  training  is  not 
trade  instruction,  not  work  in  which  the  usefulness  of 
the  articles  made  is  of  greater  importance  than  the  mak- 
ing of  them.  It  is  not  the  acquisition  of  skill  in  the  use 
of  a  tool  for  the  purpose  of  securing  business  advan- 
tages." 

It  would  be  better  if  the  "bread-and-butter"  side 
were  more  thoroughly  appreciated  in  our  own  country, 
and,  it  must  be  added,  this  side  is  rapidly  coming  to 
the  front.  Our  foreign  critics  have  juster  views.  Dr. 
Duncker,  Commissioner  of  Industries  in  Berhn,  in  a 
Report  to  the  Imperial  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor, 
makes  these  observations  on  American  manual  training : 
"The  manual  training  high  school  does  not  send  forth 
people  who  are  anxious  to  get  away  from  the  world  of 
reality  and  who  look  with  contempt  upon  manual  labor. 
The  shop  work,  in  charge  of  efficient  teachers,  promotes 
an  appreciation  of  manual  art  and  a  respect  for  manual 
work.  This  idea  that  every  kind  of  decent  work  is 
honorable  is  one  of  the  firmest  pillars  of  American  great- 
ness." 

Professor  Ripper,  Professor  of  Engineering,  University 
College,  Sheffield,  England,  states  the  outcome  very 
simply  and  truly.     "While  it  prepares  for  no  particular 


58  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

industry,  it  gives  boys  a  command  of  their  hands  as 
well  as  of  their  minds,  and  is  essential  to  a  full  training  of 
the  faculties.  It  engenders  not  only  a  respect  for,  but 
a  keen  interest  in,  manual  employment,  with  the  result 
that  many  boys  enter  constructive  trades  and  become 
successful  who  would  otherwise  have  missed  their  way 
in  some  clerical  or  professional  employment  for  which 
they  were  less  fitted." 

Yes,  the  industrial  world  and  our  American  youth  are 
both  indebted  to  manual  training  to  an  extent  that  can 
never  be  computed. 

The  subject  always  illustrates,  wherever  it  is  intro- 
duced, the  truth  that  children  will  gladly  take  the  edu- 
cation that  connects  them  with  the  outside  world.  The 
interest  that  the  pupils  display  in  the  work  is  one  of  the 
striking  facts.  A  story  such  as  this  may  be  paralleled 
all  over  the  country.  In  a  certain  high  school  the  boys 
of  the  first  and  second  years  were  required  to  join  the 
manual  training  classes,  but  those  of  the  two  upper  classes 
were  permitted  to  volunteer.  Much  to  the  surprise  of 
the  teachers,  every  boy  in  the  school  announced  his 
desire  to  take  the  new  course,  and  before  many  weeks  had 
elapsed  the  senior  boys,  conscious  that  their  time  was 
limited  to  the  few  weeks  of  school  left  before  graduation, 
formed  a  special  class  to  take  lessons  after  school  hours, 
and  on  Saturdays,  thus  gi\ang  the  strongest  e\ddence 
of  their  appreciation  of  the  chance  afforded  them  of 
getting  even  a  brief  course  of  manual  training. 

When  there  is  a  general  demand  from  the  pupils  in 


MANUAL   TRAINING  59 

every  high  school  to  come  afternoons  and  Saturdays  to 
study  grammar  it  should  be  promptly  reported. 

One  of  the  developments  of  manual  training  is  the 
wonderful  fact  that  the  academic  work  of  the  course  is 
better  done.  This  is  incontestable.  This  fact  has  im- 
pressed foreign  observers. 

Joseph  R.  Heape,  Vice  Chairman  of  the  Education 
Committee  and  Chairman  of  the  Technical  School, 
Sub-Committee,  Rochdale,  England,  says:  "The  prin- 
cipals are  most  emphatic  in  expressing  their  belief  in  the 
educational  value  of  the  work,  stating  that  the  boys  learn 
such  subjects  as  geometry  and  algebra  much  better  from 
realizing  their  value  and  importance,  and  that  in  general 
they  easily  'forge  ahead'  of  other  boys.  The  boys  are  all 
very  keen  at  their  work,  and  it  is  constantly  urged 
that  if  in  the  workshops  one  secures  keenness  and  per- 
sistence of  method,  these  qualities  do  not  stop  in  the  shop, 
but  are  carried  into  all  the  other  work  of  the  school." 
The  simple  secret  is  that  manual  training  arouses  a  vital 
interest  in  the  mind  of  the  child,  and  this  awakening 
stimulates  his  interest  in  every  essential  department  of 
his  life.     It  arouses  and  vitalizes  his  mind. 

Dr.  Franz  Kupers,  Director  of  the  "  Fortbildung- 
schule,"  Cologne,  Germany,  remarks  that  "Pupils 
who  show  little  inclination  or  desire  for  theoretical 
learning  can,  through  manual  training,  become  interested, 
properly  employed,  and  gradually  won  over  to  other 
branches  of  instruction."  The  reason  is  simply  that  it 
gives  rest  and  reaction  from  continuous  apphcation  to 


6o  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

book  study,  relieves  the  tension,  and  returns  the  boy  to  his 
other  tasks  quickened  and  refreshed  in  body  and  mind. 

Manual  training  appeals  to  a  class  of  young  men  who 
do  not  care  for  literary  work  and  intend  to  leave  school. 
Every  high  school  has  many  such  pupils.  Dr.  Duncker, 
from  whom  I  have  already  quoted,  says  of  these  pupils: 
"They  are  not  mentally  defective,  but  their  strength 
lies  somewhere  else.  Schools  with  a  one-sided  course  of 
study  cannot  satisfy  them  or  give  them  the  training  they 
require.  Such  pupils  become  discouraged  and  dissatis- 
fied. They  make  the  task  of  the  teacher  extraor- 
dinarily difficult ;  they  retard  the  progress  of  the  other 
pupils.  They  drag  themselves  from  room  to  room, 
and  leave  the  school  as  soon  as  the  law  permits.  If  they 
succeed  in  life,  they  do  so,  not  because  of  the  training  they 
received  at  school,  but  in  spite  of  it.  The  manual  train- 
ing high  school  seeks  to  lead  these  young  men  to  mental 
life  through  the  shop." 

Comparatively  few  boys  and  girls  are  really  book- 
minded,  yet  until  recently  all  pupils  were  tested  in  book 
learning  only. 

In  the  school  shop,  problems  must  be  met.  The 
slipshod  answer,  the  inarticulate  answer,  the  evasion 
of  answering  at  all,  these  are  impossible  in  the  shop. 
The  materials  with  which  the  pupil  deals  are  wood  and 
metal,  not  words.  The  problem  must  be  faced  and 
overcome,  and  the  work  must  show  accuracy.  This  is 
a  training  in  realities  and  tends  to  honesty. 

Manual   training  furnishes  one  of  the  best  possible 


MANUAL    TRAINING  6 1 

means  of  physical  training.  Pupils  suffering  from  ner- 
vousness in  the  practice  school  and  the  training  class 
have  overcome  their  nervousness  to  a  great  degree  by 
taking  this  course. 

These  arguments  place  manual  training  on  a  firm  basis. 
It  is  not  a  luxury.  It  yields  rich  returns  in  practical 
scholarship.  It  forms  sensible  views  of  life  in  the  minds 
of  pupils.  Mr.  Heape,  already  quoted,  speaking  on  this 
subject  in  his  report  to  the  Mosely  Commission,  says : 
"For  one  thing,  most  boys  have  never  had  the  opportunity 
of  using  their  hands  at  school  and  realize  the  charm  of 
making  things ;  and,  for  another,  the  work  of  a  craftsman 
is  looked  upon  as  inferior  to  that  of  a  clerk.  Both 
these  points  should  be  met,  and  the  boys  of  an  industrial 
nation  should  certainly  come  into  contact  with  manipu- 
lative and  constructive  handwork  during  their  school 
Hfe." 

Dr.  Alvin  Pabst,  of  Leipsic,  says  what  every  one  knows 
is  true,  and  enforces  the  principle  for  which  I  have  con- 
tended. "The  severest  criticism  to  which  the  school 
of  the  present  day  subjects  itself  is  that  it  has  seats  for 
book  learning,  but  no  tables  and  benches  for  the 
manifold  activities  with  which  the  children  should  be 
occupied.  Mere  book  learning  is  the  more  injurious 
the  sooner  it  begins,  for  the  less  is  the  brain  developed, 
and  the  greater  the  injury  done  the  child  through  one- 
sided mental  work.  A  natural,  rational  system  of  ed- 
ucation must  begin  by  making  the  children  familiar 
with  the  things  in  the  exterior  world,  so  that  these  may  be 


62  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

practically  conceived  in  their  relation  to  man.  There- 
fore, the  school  education  that  is  based  upon  the  study 
of  books  only  must  be  replaced  by  one  which  advocates 
practical  instruction." 

But  what  about  industrial  education  ?  Is  it  to  be 
welcomed?  Most  assuredly.  Perhaps  we  were  not 
ready  for  industrial  education  when  the  call  came  in 
1880.  But  compliance  with  the  demand  cannot  be 
refused  now.  Every  postponement  will  spell  industrial 
decadence  and  financial  calamity  for  our  nation. 

But  will  industrial  education  displace  manual  training  ? 
Only  in  part.  Industrial  training  is  specific  and  not 
general  as  in  the  case  of  manual  training.  It  is  not  general 
education.  It  is  the  training  for  a  vocation.  But 
manual  training  wiU  fulfill  all  the  purposes  for  which  it  is 
intended  for  those  to  whom  industrial  training  does 
not  apply  or  applies  to  a  limited  extent.  The  advantages 
that  have  been  set  forth  apply  not  only  to  those  who 
have  decided  to  enter  the  industrial  world,  but  also  to  all 
who  are  going  to  enter  the  world  at  all.  But  especially 
does  this  subject  come  to  the  aid  of  the  average  student 
in  causing  his  views  of  the  life  he  is  about  to  enter  to 
take  shape. 

The  following  figures  are  the  result  of  an  investigation 
that  was  made  in  an  American  city  some  time  ago.  It 
looked  to  the  ascertaining  of  the  intentions  of  the  pupils 
of  the  high  school  on  graduation.  There  were  348 
replies.  Among  the  facts  revealed  were  the  following : 
Percent  of  pupils  intending  to  go  to  college,  14 ;    per- 


MANUAL   TRAINING  63 

cent  of  pupils  intending  to  teach,  7 ;  percent  of  pupils 
who  have  chosen  a  business  other  than  teaching,  10. 

The  small  proportion  of  pupils  who  have  a  definite 
idea  as  to  what  they  are  going  to  do  in  life  is  very  striking. 
The  inference  would  be  that  our  system  of  education 
does  not  tend  in  such  a  direction  as  to  suggest  to  the 
students  the  appropriate  lines  of  development. 

If  the  inference  is  correct,  our  system  of  education  is 
not  a  very  sensible  one  when  only  31  per  cent  of  the 
pupils  have  a  clear  idea  in  regard  to  the  work  they  in- 
tend to  do  after  leaving  school. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Industrial  Education 

It  seems  a  very  reasonable  claim  that  education  ought 
to  fit  a  child  to  do  what  he  must  do  in  after  hfe.  It  is 
clearly  wrong  to  limit  this  preparation  to  making  a  Uving; 
there  is  more  in  life  than  mere  existence  and  maintaining 
the  existence.  But  it  is  clearly  madness  to  deny  that 
the  making  of  a  hving  is  one  of  the  very  important  ends 
of  education.  And  the  term  hving  ought  in  all  fairness 
to  mean  just  as  good  a  hving  as  a  man  can  make. 

Let  us  then  make  this  broad  and  simple  classification 
of  the  ends  of  education;  (i)  those  which  relate  to  mak- 
ing the  child  self-supporting,  and  (2)  those  which  look 
to  his  culture,  happiness,  power,  and  character.  If  we 
really  tried  to  make  this  classification  in  practice,  we  would 
find  it  very  difl&cult,  for  the  same  subject  in  the  course  of 
study  may  accompKsh  both  ends  and  may  even  accom- 
plish one  end  while  being  used  to  achieve  the  other. 
Thus,  the  study  of  German  may  be  undertaken  merely  for 
its  culture  result,  but  the  knowledge  of  the  language 
may  be  invaluable  in  business  and  the  study  by  which 
the  knowledge  is  attained  may  prove  an  admirable  disci- 
pline in  preparing  for  the  conflict  of  -v^its  in  after  life. 

Now  when  we  accept  the  ''bread-and-butter"  theory 

64 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  65 

as  one  of  the  theories  of  education,  and  I  do  not  see  how 
we  can  avoid  accepting  it,  we  run  up  against  the  term 
"vocational  education,"  which  is  now  in  the  air.  By 
this  term  we  understand  an  education  that  is  directly 
and  specifically  intended  to  fit  a  child  to  get  a  living, 
or  rather,  to  do  the  things  that  belong  to  his  life  work. 
In  passing,  it  must  be  ever  kept  in  mind  that  much  in 
education  that  is  not  called  vocational  tends  to  the  end 
to  which  vocational  education  directly  looks.  John 
Stuart  Mill,  for  example,  said:  "Education  makes  a 
man  a  more  intelligent  shoemaker,  if  that  be  his 
occupation,  but  not  by  teaching  him  how  to  make  shoes ; 
it  does  so  by  the  mental  exercise  it  gives,  and  the  habit 
it  impresses." 

In  commenting  on  this  quotation,  Mr.  George  H. 
Martin,  when  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Education,  said:  "John  Stuart  Mill's  shoe- 
maker, having  been  taught  somehow  to  make  shoes, 
was  to  be  made  an  intelligent  shoemaker  by  educa- 
tion. But  supposing  he  had  never  been  taught  to 
make  shoes,  what  would  his  education  have  done  for 
him  ?  It  might  have  made  him  an  intelligent  man,  but 
he  would  not  have  been  a  shoemaker  at  all,  and  then 
where  would  his  living  come  from?" 

Vocational  education  is  not  a  new  thing  even  among  us. 
We  have  already  carried  some  branches  of  it  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection.  Our  state  normal  schools  are 
vocational  institutions.  They  are  founded  and  sup- 
ported not  to  educate  in  a  general  sense,  but  to  fit  young 


66  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

men  and  women  to  become  teachers;  that  is  to  say,  to 
prepare  for  a  single  branch  of  industry.  Our  theological, 
medical,  and  legal  schools  are  purely  vocational;  they 
exist  simply  and  solely  to  prepare  for  their  respective 
callings,  the  ministry,  medicine,  and  law.  The  com- 
mercial department  of  our  high  schools  is  a  vocational 
department.  It  is  estabHshed  to  prepare  students  for 
mercantile  Hfe.  And  our  sewing  courses  in  our  own 
public  schools  are  vocational  and  nothing  else.  They 
aim  to  prepare  our  girls  to  do  one  part  of  the  work  which 
will  fall  to  their  lot  as  home-makers.  One  of  the  most 
touching  and  practical  vocational  ventures  of  which  I 
have  recently  heard,  is  the  formation  of  classes  of  young 
women  in  high  schools  for  the  study  of  baby  hygiene. 
All  that  relates  to  an  infant's  comfort  and  health  is 
practically  taught,  the  baby,  for  example,  being  actually 
washed  in  the  presence  of  the  class.  This  is  vocational 
in  a  high  sense. 

When  the  term  industrial  education  is  used,  we  are 
merely  applying  to  the  mechanical  industries  the  voca- 
tional principles  with  which,  as  I  have  shown,  we  are  so 
familiar.  Now  if  the  school  may  teach  sewing,  cooking, 
and  other  domestic  activities  to  girls,  and  prepare  boys 
and  girls  both  to  be  bookkeepers  and  stenographers, 
and  if  the  state  may  support  institutions  to  prepare 
teachers,  why  may  not  the  state  take  upon  itself  the 
preparation  of  boys  for  other  emplo>'ments  ?  Why 
not  for  the  machine  shops,  for  example  ?  It  seems  as  if 
there  could  be  but  one  answer  to  this  question.     But 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  6^ 

is  it  the  duty  of  the  state  to  do  it  ?  Is  it  the  duty  of  the 
state  to  do  any  of  the  vocational  work  which  it  is  doing, 
the  normal,  the  commercial,  the  domestic  ? 

There  is  but  one  adequate  justification  of  the  state 
in  doing  anything  that  it  does  in  education.  That 
justification  is  the  state's  own  interests.  The  state  does 
not  educate  the  boy  because  it  loves  him;  it  educates 
him  because  it  does  not  dare  to  have  him  uneducated. 
At  the  beginning  it  must  educate  as  a  matter  of  self- 
preservation.  Once  in  the  business  it  must  extend  the 
field  and  manifold  the  functions  of  education  as  it  sees 
that  education  makes  possible  the  enrichment  and  per- 
fection of  that  life  which  education  was  originally  in- 
tended merely  to  preserve.  The  man  who  pays  his  tax 
for  the  education  of  a  neighbor's  child  does  so,  not  because 
he  loves  his  neighbor  or  his  child,  but  because  the  educa- 
tion of  the  children  of  all  his  neighbors  is  necessary  to  a 
state  of  society  in  which  his  own  interests  find  their  high- 
est protection  and  development. 

Applying  this  principle  to  the  subject  in  hand,  the 
state  prepares  teachers  because  the  purposes  of  educa- 
tion are  frustrated  by  untrained  teachers.  It  prepares 
stenographers  because  the  commercial  world  must  have 
them ;  men  cannot  write  their  own  letters  now,  and  their 
clerks  cannot  take  them  down  or  write  them  fast  enough 
in  long  hand.  We  have  reached  a  new  era  in  mercantile 
life.  In  the  field  of  industrial  education  the  expression 
of  the  public  views  comes  with  emphasis  and  in  very 
clear  and  ringing  terms. 


68  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Associations  of  manufacturers  have  expressed  them- 
selves repeatedly  and  forcibly.  The  National  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Education  is  composed 
largely  of  the  great  capitalists  and  manufacturers  of  the 
country.  Theodore  Roosevelt  has  declared  industrial 
education  to  be  the  most  important  problem  of  the 
public  schools. 

No  educational  movement  at  the  present  moment 
is  attracting  so  much  attention  as  that  in  favor  of  in- 
dustrial education.  It  is  an  old  movement  in  Germany, 
and  in  that  country  industrial  education  has  practically 
taken  a  permanent  form,  or  rather  forms,  for  it  is  ex- 
pressed in  a  variety  of  schools.  In  our  own  country  there 
have  been  for  a  long  time  scattering  industrial  institu- 
tions like  the  Lowell  Textile  School,  but  Industrial 
Education  as  a  movement  has  gained  headway  only 
within  recent  years. 

Massachusetts  and  Wisconsin  have  led  in  the  move- 
ment, but  the  whole  country  is  awake.  Massachusetts 
created  a  state  commission  several  years  ago  to  make 
propaganda,  to  advise  with  school  boards,  and  to  super- 
vise the  equipment,  buildings,  emplo^-ment  of  teachers, 
and  adoption  of  courses  of  study.  The  report  of  this 
commission  created  a  stir  in  public  sentiment,  and  while 
the  immediate  practical  outcome  was  incommensurate 
with  the  effort  put  forth,  the  agitation  of  the  subject 
received  an  impetus  that  has  awakened  public  interest 
in  the  subject  throughout  the  whole  of  America. 

The  reason  for  this  great  awakening  is  simple  enough. 


INDUSTRIAL    EDUCATION  69 

The  thinking  people  of  the  United  States  have  become 
convinced  that  industrial  education  is  the  open  road  to  in- 
dustrial supremacy,  and  that  to  neglect  it  means  that  we 
must  take  a  subordinate  place.  I  quote  from  the  United 
States  Deputy  Consul  Meyer  of  Chemnitz,  Germany,  in 
the  consular  reports  for  1905  (special  consular  report  t,^). 
"In  a  comparatively  short  time  Germany  has  become 
one  of  the  great  workshops  of  the  world,  and  has  secured 
a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  manufacturing  nations  with 
but  Httle  assistance  from  nature  and  in  the  face  of 
many  difficulties.  It  is  not  a  rich  country ;  its  natural 
resources  are  moderate ;  its  position  is  disadvantageous 
for  trading ;  it  has  enjoyed  peace  for  only  thirty  years ; 
it  has  never  enjoyed  security,  and  tranquillity  has  been 
purchased  at  the  cost  of  an  immense  military  advantage. 
Then,  its  people  are  not  particularly  inventive  and  have 
not  fashioned  for  themselves  superior  weapons  in  the 
shape  of  new  mechanical  appliances  and  revolutionizing 
processes,  Hke  the  earlier  inventions  of  England  and  the 
later  ones  of  America.  And  yet  Germany  has  advanced 
from  comparatively  small  beginnings  so  rapidly  that  she 
now  does  what  no  other  country,  though  possessing 
superior  advantages  and  fewer  difficulties,  can  do;  she 
successfully  challenges  England  in  nearly  all  the  great 
branches  of  industry  in  which  England  is  or  was  stronger. 
Germany  is  an  all-round  competitor  and  our  most 
formidable  one.  And  not  only  ours ;  she  competes  with 
other  countries  in  the  products  in  which  they  are 
strongest,  with  the  United  States  in  electrical  machinery 


70  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

and  small  machine  tools,  with  France  in  dress  materials, 
as  she  does  with  England  in  ship  building  and  large 
machinery." 

Without  undervaluing  culture  and  without  neglecting 
it  in  the  schools,  it  is  clear  that  in  addition  to  learning 
from  books  the  schools  must  furnish  training  in  vocational 
work  as  a  true  preparation  for  Hfe.  Why  is  the  solution 
not  as  simple  as  in  the  case  of  the  commercial  high 
school  or  the  normal  school  ? 

"'I  want  to  leave  school  and  get  a  job.'  The  usual 
answer  is, '  Get  an  education  first  —  before  it's  too  late. 
You  can  get  a  job  later.'  Now  is  that  true?  Can  the 
average  'graduate'  readily  'get  a  job  later,'  in  compe- 
tition with  the  fellow  who  left  school  young  —  and 
hustled?" 

I  have  quoted  from  David  Stone  Wheeler.  This  is 
the  argument  from  the  boy's  side.  Do  the  interests  of  the 
boy  and  the  interests  of  the  business  world  coincide  or 
even  harmonize?  That  is  the  crux  of  the  whole  ques- 
tion. I  think  the  American  public  is  at  the  present  mo- 
ment divided  into  three  camps.  First,  the  pronounced 
advocates  of  industrial  education.  Second,  the  con- 
servatives who  view  the  movement  with  distrust  and 
believe  that  the  boy  is  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  ambition 
of  the  manufacturer.  Third,  the  imcertain  people,  the 
people  who  are  puzzled  and  who  are  trying  to  make  up 
their  minds.  This  class  comprises  not  only  the  weak  and 
vacillating,  but  also  the  thoughtful  who  hesitate  because 
they  see  too  clearly  both  sides  of  the  question. 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  7 1 

The  objections  to  the  industrial  education  movement 
are  these :  i .  There  is  no  popular  demand  for  it ;  the 
demand  is  confined  to  the  manufacturers  and  is  a  selfish 
demand.  2.  The  industrial  education  movement  is 
founded  on  a  principle  abhorrent  to  the  American  mind, 
the  principle  of  caste,  3.  It  deprives  the  child  of  his 
right  to  a  broad  general  education,  substituting  trade 
training  for  the  culture  necessary  to  the  proper  enjoyment 
of  fife.  4.  It  is  impossible  to  teach  all  the  trades  at  public 
expense.     5.  All  industrial  education  is  very  expensive. 

Let  us  look  closely  at  these  objections.  A  discussion 
of  them  is  the  best  way  to  discover  what  is  really  pro- 
posed by  the  industrial  education  movement.  Sooner  or 
later  every  one  will  be  called  upon  to  make  a  decision 
on  the  many  questions  which  the  movement  raises. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  no  clearly  defined  opinion  on  the 
part  of  the  public  on  the  subject  of  vocational  instruction. 
A  great  many  people  have  never  heard  of  the  subject. 
Another  great  section  never  demand  anything;  these 
people  are  contented  with  things  just  as  they  are.  An- 
other section  has  a  vague  notion  that  something  of  the 
kind  is  necessary  but  have  no  notion  what  should  be  done. 
The  comprehension  of  industrial  needs  is  Hmited  to  a  small 
body  of  educators,  a  considerable  body  of  manufacturers, 
a  few  educated  laymen,  and  some  of  the  trades  unions. 
It  is  the  intelligence  and  earnestness  of  these  forces  that 
is  pressing  the  subject  on  public  attention. 

But  it  does  not  follow  that  there  is  not  an  undercurrent 
of  feeling  extremely  vague,  and  doubtless  mistaken  on  one 


72  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

or  more  points,  that  merely  awaits  direction  to  become  an 
intense  and  intelligent  factor  in  the  question.  This  feel- 
ing at  present,  in  its  crudest  expression,  expends  itself  in 
dissatisfaction  with  the  schools  as  a  whole.  People  may 
not  know  the  remedy  —  it  is  doubtful  if  any  one  does  — 
but  they  may  easily  unite  on  a  remedy,  and  it  may  easily 
be  the  wrong  remedy.     This  is  a  dangerous  state  of  things. 

For  example  :  no  one  can  be  insensible  to  the  fact  that 
children  leave  school  with  great  rapidity.  In  Albany, 
New  York,  for  instance,  only  35  per  cent  of  the  pupils 
who  enter  at  the  first  grade  remain  to  graduate  from 
the  grammar  school.  In  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  the 
per  cent  is  30,  and  only  88  per  cent  of  those  who  en- 
tered the  first  grade  eventually  entered  the  senior  year 
of  the  high  school.  Whether  the  average  man  has  at 
his  command  such  figures  or  not,  the  general  fact  is 
before  him.  He  cannot  explain  it,  but  he  is  uneasy. 
Some  of  us  who  think  we  can  explain  it  have  the  feel- 
ing that  this  uneasiness  is  pointing  ominously  in  the 
right  direction. 

It  is  clear  to  a  great  many  persons  that  the  wages 
their  children  are  able  to  earn  as  a  result  of  their  schooUng 
are  pitifully  small,  and  this  fact  is  also  tolerably  clear  to 
the  parties  getting  the  small  wages.  In  contrast  to  these 
are  the  wages  received  by  the  more  favored  young  men  in 
professional  and  skilled  mechanical  employments.  "Too 
many  American  boys  and  girls,"  says  Superintendent 
Gibson,  of  Georgia,  "have  been  slipping  through  the 
meshes  of  the  elementary  schools  and  going  out  to  join 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  73 

the  vast  army  of  bread-winners  without  adequate  train- 
ing. Many  of  those  who  leave  the  schools  have  a  feeling, 
based  upon  observation  of  their  bread-winning  friends, 
that  the  preparation  they  are  receiving  in  the  schools 
does  not  give  them  earning  power."  "  Sixty-eight  per 
cent,  as  a  result  of  one  investigation  of  over  five  thousand 
cases,  drift  into  the  ranks  of  unskilled  labor ;  that  is,  in 
department  and  other  stores,  as  messengers,  errand  boys 
in  offices,  and  in  factories  and  shops  employing  hands  of 
a  grade  known  as  unskilled  labor." 

A  significant  statement  made  by  Charles  H.  Morse, 
formerly  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Industrial  Com- 
mission, illustrates  the  way  in  which  this  undefined 
consciousness  sometimes  finds  expression.  He  says : 
"As  head  of  the  Manual  Training  School  in  Cambridge, 
I  saw  it  grow  from  120  pupils  to  over  500.  I  know 
that  a  very  large  percentage  of  those  boys  entered  the 
school  because  their  parents  believed  that  the  school 
was  going  to  teach  them  a  trade ;  that  is,  those  parents 
wanted  the  boys  to  have  that  opportunity.  We  would 
start  with  more  than  loo  in  the  entering  class  and  the 
class  in  the  senior  year  would  be  reduced  to  less  then 
50.  Those  boys  dropped  out  of  the  school  because  the 
school  was  not  giving  them  what  they  thought  they 
wanted.  They  would  beg  and  their  parents  would  plead 
for  the  privilege  of  more  work  in  the  shops  and  they 
would  petition  to  be  excused  from  a  purely  culture  sub- 
ject which  they  seemed  totally  unable  to  handle  because 
they  had  no  interest  in  it." 


74  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

This  indicates  not  a  popular  demand  for  industrial 
education,  but  a  state  of  mind  which  cannot  be  ignored. 
Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  among  the  causes  for  the  evils 
which  the  people  believe  to  exist  is  the  very  one  that  is 
the  stock  in  trade  of  the  industrial  training  advocate. 
It  is  not  the  only  cause,  as  some  of  these  advocates 
would  have  us  think.  The  common  apathy  of  our  pupils 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  see  nothing  in  the  educa- 
tion we  offer.  It  does  not  touch  their  lives  or  make  a 
vital  appeal  to  their  interest.  This  apathy  leads  directly 
to  leaving  school.  Arouse  the  boy's  interest  and  he  is 
willing  to  stay.  Manual  training  has  clearly  proven  this. 
Supervisor  Murray  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  says: 
"We  are  asked,  'How  do  you  know  that  the  boys  will 
stay  in  school  if  they  are  given  vocational  work?'  Of 
course,  we  do  not  know  that  they  all  will.  We  have  had 
experience  enough,  however,  with  what  Httle  has  been 
done  with  manual  training  to  prove  that  there  is  a  large 
number  of  these  pupils  who  are  held  in  school  and  their 
interest  aroused  through  this  kind  of  work.  Any  live 
manual  training  teacher  can  cite  cases  without  number 
where  manual  training  has  been  practically  the  only 
thing  in  the  curriculum  in  which  boys  have  been  inter- 
ested, and  I  have  had  many  boys  tell  me  that  they  would 
stay  in  school  longer  if  they  had  more  work  with  their 
hands." 

The  story  of  industrial  education  in  Germany  is  really 
a  story  of  evolution.  Industrial  education  did  not  flame 
up  there  in  a  few  brief  years  as  we  are  given  to  thinking. 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  75 

The  story  in  Germany  dates  away  back  into  the  eight- 
eenth century.  There  was  a  slow  process  of  growth 
which  was  finally  halted  by  the  wars  of  that  nation. 
When  in  1 871,  after  the  unification  of  Germany,  industrial 
education  was  preached  and  the  rapid  progress  began,  the 
seed  fell  on  a  soil  long  in  process  of  preparation.  Not 
only  are  these  conditions  not  paralleled  in  this  country 
but  the  tendency  has  been  along  other  lines.  Vocational 
training  will  probably  not  be  added  to  American  educa- 
tion.    It  will  grow  out  of  it. 

"  Not  how  to  get  —  not  how  to  spend  —  a  dollar,  but 
how  to  get  —  and  how  to  spend  —  a  life."  In  this  epi- 
grammatic sentence  David  Stone  Wheeler,  without  espe- 
cially intending  to  do  so,  puts  the  substance  of  the  conflict 
between  vocational  education  and  its  opponents.  The 
arguments  of  the  orators  on  either  side  are  earnest  and 
often  brilliant,  but  the  progress  of  the  campaign  is 
slow.  It  is  strange  that  the  most  striking  facts  make 
so  little  impression.  The  industrial  education  advocate 
presents  the  brilliant  material  achievements  in  Europe 
as  a  result  of  industrial  training  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other,  the  clearly  demonstrated  facts  that  our 
schools  do  not  provide  directly  to  meet  the  demands  of 
business  life,  and  that  thousands  of  children  are  leaving 
our  schools  without  finishing  the  course.  Children  are 
withdrawn  from  school  and  put  to  work  on  earnings 
whose  scantiness  breeds  discontent  in  the  presence  of 
the  fact  of  better  wages  for  more  highly  favored  youth. 
This  is  not  by  any  means  a  demand,  only  a  vague 


76  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

impression,  but  this  impression  seeks  definition,  and 
when  clearly  defined,  will  become  an  imperious  demand 
in  comparison  with  which  the  present  demand  of  the 
manufacturer  and  educator  is  a  feeble  matter. 

In  an  address  made  by  Charles  H.  Morse  to  the 
department  of  superintendence,  National  Educational 
Association,  meeting  at  Washington,  occurs  this  state- 
ment :  ' '  The  industrial  school  should  be  conducted  more  as 
a  manufacturing  business  would  be  conducted.  The  boys 
and  girls  in  the  school  should  be  given  to  understand  that 
time  is  money.  These  schools,  instead  of  trying  to  give 
something  which  has  only  cultural  value  —  educational 
value  as  it  has  been  understood  to  be  —  should  try  to 
give  all  the  subjects  taught  because  of  their  practical 
value." 

In  commenting  on  Secretary  Morse's  paper  Mr.  Dodd, 
of  the  North  Bennett  Street  Industrial  School,  Boston, 
said:  "No  child  of  grammar  school  age  is  sufficiently 
developed  physically  or  mentally  to  lay  aside  a  broadening 
course  and  to  elect  work  that  trains  in  specific  operations. 
Any  scheme  advocating  such  practice  would  be  wholly 
un-American  and  would  tend  to  even  greater  class  dis- 
tinctions than  are  found  in  Europe." 

The  phrase  "class  distinctions"  touches  the  sensitive 
point  and  expresses  a  deeply  rooted  horror  of  the  Ameri- 
can parent.  It  is  the  genesis  of  the  hidden  force  whose 
character  I  am  trying  to  develop. 

Commissioner  Snedden  of  Massachusetts  in  a  recent 
address  presented  a  scheme  for  the  modification  of  the 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  77 

grammar  school  course,  whose  general  features  are  in 
the  main  approved  by  a  considerable  body  of  advanced 
educators.  The  plan  provides  for  a  moderate  amount  of 
flexibility  in  the  last  two  grades  of  the  elementary  school. 
This  fiexibihty  may  be  brought  about  by  requiring  all 
the  pupils  in  common  to  take  the  work  in  EngHsh,  history 
and  civics,  geography  and  hygiene,  with  perhaps  a 
limited  amount  of  attention  given  to  music,  manual 
training,  etc.  In  addition,  every  pupil  should  elect 
one  of  four  groups  of  supplemental  studies:  (a)  for  those 
probably  taking  a  high  school  course,  fitting  for  college, 
a  foreign  language  and  the  beginnings  of  algebra  and 
geometry;  (b)  for  those  probably  going  early  into  industry 
or  industrial  schools,  a  course  rich  in  manual  training, 
drawing,  applied  science,  and  mathematics;  (c)  for  those 
probably  going  into  commercial  callings,  commercial 
arithmetic,  commercial  geography,  bookkeeping,  and 
other  practical  studies  of  this  type;  (d)  for  girls  looking 
forward  to  home  work,  a  course  rich  in  household  arts 
and  related  sciences. 

It  ought  to  be  noted  that  such  a  scheme  in  its  essential 
features  is  not  new,  and  that  it  did  not  grow  out  of  the 
vocational  need.  As  Commissioner  Snedden  himself 
says:  "  The  recognition  of  the  principle  of  flexibility  in 
these  grades  is  simply  a  logical  result  of  movements 
which  have  been  at  work  in  our  educational  system  for 
generations.  The  multiplication  of  knowledge  and  the 
increasing  consideration  for  differences  in  children  make 
it  an  apparent  necessity  in  the  college  and  secondary 


^8  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

school.  There  are  too  many  studies ;  important  studies 
like  foreign  language  and  science  find  no  place,  many 
of  the  subjects  are  now  treated  superficially,  many  of 
the  subjects  are  too  difficult  for  the  pupils." 

The  opponent  of  industrial  education  or  the  doubter 
has  clearly  defined  objections.  With  the  general  pubHc 
they  are  feelings,  undefined  although  real,  and,  at  present, 
effective  as  a  retarding  influence. 

The  parent  is  not  willing  at  the  eighth  grade  to  say 
finally  that  his  boy  shall  be  a  mechanic,  much  less  any 
special  variety  of  mechanic.  If  he  places  his  child  in  the 
industrial  class,  he  thinks  he  must  bid  good-by  to  any 
advancement  for  the  child  in  some  other  line  in  which 
he  might  have  done  better.  He  cannot  bear  the  thought 
of  settling  his  boy's  destiny  so  early.  The  American 
idea  is  equal  opportunity.  By  his  own  act  he  limits 
the  child's  opportunities.  The  educator  who  sympa- 
thizes with  him  says  outright  that  no  classification  should 
prevent  the  pupil  from  changing  his  course  at  any  time 
and  pursuing  any  line  of  education  to  the  limit.  Down 
below  the  surface  lies  that  idea  expressed  by  the  hated 
word  "caste." 

Again,  the  parent  knows  that  even  if  he  would,  he 
cannot  yet  decide  for  the  boy  what  he  will  do  in  life. 

As  for  the  child  himself,  the  value  of  his  choice  of  an 
occupation  in  the  seventh  grade  is  rather  amusingly  stated 
by  Miss  Langley  of  the  University  of  Chicago :  "  Even  if 
voluntary,  early  vocational  selection  is  not  to  be  trusted. 
It  is  liable  to  be  whimsical,  uncertain,  determined  by 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  79 

temporary  influences.  If  the  kind  of  occupation  fer- 
vently chosen  by  every  boy  of  ten  were  to  reach  mature 
realization,  the  army  and  the  navy,  the  police  force  and 
the  livery  business  would  be  steadily  overcrowded." 
She  adds:  "Vocational  selection,  if  imposed  upon  the 
child  wliile  still  in  the  grades,  is  likely  to  be  a  disastrous 
mistake.  No  teacher,  no  parent  even,  holds  the  divining 
rod  whereby  may  be  discovered  the  secret  springs  of  a 
child's  best  future  activity.  By  all  means  give  every 
child  a  chance  at  a  trade,  but  first  give  him  the  oppor- 
tunity of  being  a  developed  individual." 

Right  or  wrong,  she  states  the  expressed  or  unexpressed 
feeling  of  many  a  parent  and  the  positive  opinion  of  many 
an  educator.  And  this  view  she  holds  while  emphasiz- 
ing the  necessity  of  trade  schools. 

I  have  tried  to  state  with  fairness  this  opposing  view  or 
feeling.  But  an  impartial  statement  must  not  leave  out 
the  rejoinder.  We  have  not  disposed  of  the  fact  that 
great  numbers  of  children  are  leaving  school  all  the 
time,  thus,  as  Commissioner  Snedden  puts  it,  "actually 
making  a  choice  of  vocation."  And  we  must  add,  that 
in  many  cases  they  are  making  a  very  bad  choice.  The 
assumption  is  that  industrial  education  would  keep  these 
children  in  school  and  provide  for  them  what  they  want. 
This  assumption  yet  awaits  proof. 

Out  of  this  confusing  maze  we  shall  ultimately  emerge 
on  the  truth.  A  few  points  stand  out  clearly  and  are  not 
seriously  contested.  First,  that  industrial  education  in 
some  form  is  imperatively  needed  by  the  American  nation ; 


8o  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

second,  that  our  schools  are  not  holding  their  pupils ; 
third,  that  the  public  is  discontented  with  the  output 
of  our  schools ;  fourth,  that  the  courses  of  study  must 
come  nearer  to  practical  life ;  fifth,  that  the  suggestion 
of  caste  will  not  be  accepted  by  the  American  parent. 

What  is  the  solution  of  the  problem  ? 

Every  subject  in  education  bristles  with  difficult  ques- 
tions. The  thoughtful  educator  must  acknowledge 
that  he  lives  in  the  midst  of  perplexity.  Many  times  he 
must  ask  "What  is  truth?" 

Superintendent  Gibson  of  Georgia  writes:  "Recent 
investigations  conducted  by  the  educational  department 
of  the  international  committee  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  demonstrated  that  of  thirteen 
million  young  men  in  the  United  States  between  the 
ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty-five,  only  five  per  cent 
received  in  connection  with  their  school  education  any 
preparation  for  their  several  occupations.  It  was  also 
discovered  that  of  every  one  hundred  graduates  of  our 
elementary  schools,  only  eight  obtained  their  livelihood 
by  means  of  the  professions  and  commercial  business, 
while  the  remaining  ninety-two  supported  themselves 
and  their  families  by  the  skill  of  their  hands. 

"Add  to  these  graduates  the  large  number  of  those  who 
fall  out  of  the  elementary  schools  from  the  fourth  grade 
on,  and  we  have  a  vast  army  of  young  people  going  into 
the  bread-winning  occupations  with  no  specific  training 
therefor." 

This  seems  to  constitute  an  unanswerable  demand  for 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  8 1 

industrial  education.  But  on  the  other  hand,  let  me 
quote  from  a  recent  scholarly  address  of  Dr.  C.  H. 
Henderson,  author  of  the  popular  book  "Education  and 
the  Larger  Life." 

"Industry  has  perfected  its  measures,  processes,  and 
relatively  it  has  done  tremendous  work  in  cheapening 
production,  in  magnifying  production,  in  giving  us 
almost  a  surfeit  of  things.  To  work  these  machines 
and  to  carry  out  these  processes,  industry  must  have 
some  sort  of  a  human  attendant  to  do  that  part  which 
cannot  be  relegated  to  machinery.  Industry  does  not 
ask  for  educated  persons,  but  when  it  makes  its  bald 
and  characteristic  statement,  it  asks  purely  for  people 
who  can  carry  out  its  processes.  If  you  have  a  heart  and 
eyes  you  know  very  well  that  the  human  side  of  this 
tremendous  industrial  development  is  very  little  looked 
after.  I  think  that  we  need  no  education  to  know  that 
the  homes  of  the  workers  are  not  beautiful ;  that  the 
majority  of  them  are  not  happy,  and  that  only  a  few 
of  them  are  healthy.  I  say  that  primarily  it  is  not 
concerned  with  persons,  but  with  things;  with  their 
movement;  with  their  production,  their  distribution, 
and  it  ignores  the  human  side  of  life  to  a  very  large 
and  lamentable  degree." 

These  extracts  give  the  substance  of  my  discussion 
of  the  opposing  views  on  the  question  of  industrial 
education.  The  following  are  suggestions  which  seem 
to  me  to  be  fair  to  the  pupil  and  practicable  as  well  as 
practical. 


82  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

There  is  much  education  that  may  be  given  from  the 
very  beginning,  to  relate  the  pupil  to  the  affairs  of  actual 
life.  I  have  tried  to  show  how  academic  is  our  elemen- 
tary education.  Some  of  it  must  be  academic,  but  why 
not  also  infuse  the  course  of  study  with  the  spirit  of 
the  real  work-a-day  world  ?  It  is  a  very  interesting 
world.  I  hesitate  to  argue  or  even  illustrate  this  propo- 
sition because  I  have  done  so  before,  but  one  or  two 
illustrations  may  not  be  superfluous. 

They  were  digging  trenches  and  laying  a  water  pipe 
near  the  Prattville  school.  In  one  or  two  of  the  classes, 
this  matter  was  investigated,  not  by  reading  to  the  pupils 
on  the  subject,  but  by  sending  them  out  to  get  informa- 
tion for  themselves.  Questions  of  a  practical  nature 
were  given  to  the  pupils  to  be  solved  and  reported  upon 
by  the  pupils.  The  following  are  illustrations  of  some 
of  these  questions  :  — 

In  which  direction  of  the  street  does  the  water  flow  ? 
Where  does  the  pipe  discharge?  Which  way  does 
the  pipe  into  which  it  discharges  run?  How  wide  is 
the  pipe  ?  How  much  water  flows  through  the  pipe  in 
an  hour  ?  How  much  water  is  needed  in  the  city  every 
day?  How  much  is  wasted?  Where  does  the  water 
come  from?  Where  is  the  reservoir?  What  are  the 
usual  sources  of  water  supply  ?  etc. 

If  such  questions  as  these  are  answered  by  pupils 
who  have  found  out  for  themselves,  it  is  evident  that 
physics,  geography,  government,  etc.,  become  real. 

In  many  cities  the  pupils  visit  car  shops,  factories, 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  83 

telephone  offices,  etc.  If  the  work  is  wisely  handled 
after  such  visits,  the  pupils  have  come  out  of  the  academic 
and  into  the  real.  Any  one  can  suggest  the  multitude 
of  practical  questions  that  such  a  visit  could  occasion. 

In  arithmetic,  nature  study,  reading,  history,  the 
development  of  this  realistic  method  is  limitless  when 
once  we  have  caught  the  idea. 

Charles  H.  Morse  thus  emphasized  this  view  of  the 
matter:  "I  would  have  the  child  at  that  age  study,  in 
connection  with  other  subjects,  the  manufacturing 
establishments  of  the  community.  He  should  know 
their  business  organization  and  general  methods  of 
management,  their  history,  the  sources  of  the  raw 
materials  used,  the  geography  of  the  regions  from  which 
the  raw  materials  come,  the  transportation  facilities,  and, 
in  a  general  way,  the  various  processes  of  manufacture. 
The  market,  the  finished  product  should  be  studied ;  also 
the  special  qualifications  required  of  the  employees, 
the  wages  for  beginners,  the  average  increase  of  wages, 
and  the  possibiHties  for  advancement  for  an  earnest, 
intelhgent  worker,  as  well  as  the  hours  of  work  and  the 
steadiness  of  employment  for  each  industry." 

Mr.  Murray,  Supervisor  of  Manual  Training  in  Spring- 
field, says:  "A  complete  system  of  industrial  edu- 
cation requires  constructive  work  in  the  primary  grades, 
not  less  than  two  hours  a  week  in  the  grammar  grades  for 
all  pupils,  special  extra  classes  for  those  boys  who  have 
not  progressed  far  enough  in  the  grades  so  that  they 
would  get  the  more  formal  work  with  tools,  and  special 


84  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

classes  which  will  allow  those  boys  who  desire  it  to  do 
from  two  to  five  hours  more  work  a  week.  This  should 
enable  pupils  to  decide  whether  they  wish  to  go  through 
the  technical  high  school  which  will  lead  to  the  higher 
technical  schools  and  the  engineering  professions,  or 
whether  they  wish  to  enter  the  vocational  schools  which 
will  lead  directly  to  the  trades.  Trade  teaching  should 
be  only  a  part  of  a  complete  system  of  industrial  educa- 
tion, and  manual  training  is  as  essential  to  it  as  it  is  to 
the  system  of  general  education." 

If  a  boy  who  has  learned  the  essential  elements  of  a 
trade  does  not  in  the  end  decide  to  follow  it,  he  is  none 
the  worse  off.  Indeed,  he  is  better  off.  No  one  who  has 
learned  a  trade  ever  regrets  it.  The  chance  of  a  broader 
education,  however,  should  always  be  open  to  a  boy. 

It  is  quite  conceivable  that  an  opportunity  may  be 
offered  to  pupils  or  their  parents  to  elect  an  industrial 
class,  and  to  plan  the  instruction  in  such  a  way  that  the 
pupil  or  his  parent  may  change  his  mind  without  prejudice 
to  the  pupil  at  any  time.  Such  an  opportunity  is  actually 
offered,  experimentally,  in  Boston.  WiUiam  Leavitt, 
Assistant  Director  of  Manual  Training  in  Boston,  says  :  — 

"Beginning  with  Grade  VI,  the  children  have  a  chance 
to  elect  (or  their  parents  to  elect  for  them)  admission 
to  the  industrial  class.  In  this  industrial  class,  five 
hours,  at  least,  should  be  given  to  manual  training  —  the 
time  to  be  taken  from  drawing,  physical  training,  and 
arithmetic.  The  work  done  in  these  classes,  and  the 
conditions  under  which  it  is  done,  conform  as  closely  as 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  85 

possible  to  actual  industrial  work  in  real  life.  The  prod- 
uct should  be  not  only  useful,  but  should  be  put  to  use, 
preferably  by  the  city.  The  articles  made  should  be  those 
that  may  be  produced  in  quantities.  The  methods  should 
be  practical,  and  both  product  and  method  should  be 
subjected  to  the  same  commercial  tests,  as  far  as  possible, 
as  apply  in  actual  industry.  What  is  it  hoped  to  accom- 
pHsh?  To  turn  the  attention  of  the  children  to  things 
industrial ;  to  give  them  an  appreciation  of  values  — 
the  value  of  materials,  of  time,  and  of  modern  industrial 
methods;  to  prolong  the  school  life  of  the  pupils  while 
enhancing  their  chances  for  industrial  success." 

There  is  a  class  of  boys  in  the  elementary  schools  who 
have  progressed  in  the  regular  school  work  just  as  far  as 
they  will  go.  With  them  it  may  be  simply  a  question  of 
leaving  school.  To  offer  to  such  boys  a  factory  school 
course  is  not  to  doom  them  to  a  low  station  in  life,  but  to 
open  up  the  possibility  of  a  higher  station  than  they  could 
obtain  if  they  followed  their  own  callow  judgment  in 
leaving  school.  It  would  be  a  hasty  judgment  to  assume 
that  such  boys  belong  mentally  to  the  poorer  grade  of 
pupils.  It  is  unsafe  to  conclude  anything  concerning  a 
boy's  ability  because  he  does  not  take  kindly  to  books. 
Such  boys  may,  without  prejudice  to  their  rights,  be 
directed  toward  the  schools  in  the  factories  or  the  in- 
dustrial training  schools  in  which  their  productive, 
constructive,  and  achieving  tendencies  may  be  developed. 
The  culture  of  these  powers  will  mean  much  more  in 
most  cases  than  the  mere  storing  of  their  minds  with 


86  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

book  knowledge,  both  for  the  individuals  themselves  and 
for  their  country. 

There  is  a  class  who  have  no  choic^  whatever  in  the 
matter.  Whether  they  desire  to  do  so  or  not,  they 
must  leave  school  at  an  early  age,  and  they  often  know  it 
in  advance.  This  class  is  frequently  forgotten  in  the 
discussions.  Here  the  alternative  offered  is  to  allow 
the  pupil  to  disappear  and  to  be  lost  in  the  ranks  of  the 
unskilled  or  poorly  paid  workers  or  to  be  given  a  start 
in  some  direction  that  will  enable  him  to  find  work  at  a 
living  wage.  By  giving  such  a  child  a  vocational  train- 
ing we  are  not  preventing  the  child  from  doing  something 
that  might  be  better  for  him ;  on  the  contrary,  we  are 
preventing  him  from  doing  something  that  is  surely 
worse. 
i  If  the  vocational  flavor  has  thus  permeated  the  elemen- 
I  tary  school,  the  pupil  is  likely  to  arrive  at  the  high 
I  school  somewhat  prepared  to  choose.  Here,  it  must  be 
t  borne  in  mind,  students  are  already  actually  choosing. 
They  choose  a  commercial,  a  technical,  a  college  course, 
or  they  choose  a  special  institution,  such  as  the  Agri- 
cultural College.  To  choose  an  industrial  course,  or  a 
course  in  domestic  science,  is  only  carrying  the  present 
freedom  of  choice  a  little  farther.  The  final  choice  for 
life  is  not  made  here,  but  it  is  a  very  serious  choice. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Industrial  high  school  must  of 
necessity  soon  take  its  place  along  with  the  commerical 
and  agricultural  schools.  In  these  schools  must  be 
introduced,  says  Mr.  Barney  of  the  Hebrew  Technical 


INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION  87 

Institute,  New  York:  "Thorough  practical  courses  in 
industrial  and  technical  work,  which  courses  shall  include 
not  only  the  use  and  manipulation  of  tools,  but  shall 
combine  therewith  those  subjects  which  will  lead  to  an 
industrial  intelligence,  a  knowledge  of  materials  and 
the  principles  of  mechanics,  of  the  cost  of  production  and 
the  commercial  value  of  time." 

To  this  summary  I  would  add  Mr.  Martin's  demand : 
"In  order  that  the  student  may  become  a  useful  citizen 
as  well  as  a  skilled  workman,  the  school  course  should 
include  history,  economics,  and  civics.  Time  also  should 
be  provided  for  thorough  physical  training,  including 
personal  hygiene  and  organized  athletics.  English  should 
be  cultivated  through  the  course  by  composition  and 
forensics.  Opportunity  should  be  ofifered  to  those  stu- 
dents who  might  find  relaxation  and  aesthetic  pleasure 
in  the  study  and  practice  of  vocal  and  instrumental 
music. 

"Otherwise,"  he  says,  "this  whole  work  would  be 
destructive  of  the  most  cherished  American  ideals,  if, 
while  teaching  young  men  how  to  get  a  better  living,  the 
schools  failed  to  teach  them  how  to  live  a  better  life." 

As  to  the  financial  value  to  the  students  of  an  industrial 
course  such  as  that  offered  in  the  Hebrew  Technical 
Institute,  I  quote  Mr.  Barney  again:  "The  average 
age  at  graduation  is  seventeen  years  and  three  months. 
Seventy-five  per  cent  are  following  mechanical  lines 
of  work  corresponding  to  those  taught  them  at  the 
Institute.     The  average  earnings  vary  from  $8  a  week 


«5  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

for  those  graduated  a  year  ago  to  $50  a  week  for  the 
older  classes  graduated  twenty  years  ago,  the  average 
increase  being  $2  per  week  for  each  year  that  the  boy 
is  out  of  the  school." 

The  financial  problem  for  the  community  is  the  diffi- 
cult consideration,  and  demands  careful  dehberation 
before  a  community  embarks  on  the  venture.  The  per 
capita  cost  in  the  school  from  which  we  have  taken  the 
above  figures  has  varied  during  the  past  five  years  from 
$105  to  $113  as  schools  usually  reckon  the  per  capita 
cost,  or  from  $120  to  $125,  including  every  expense. 

I  desire  to  emphasize  the  proposition  that  vocational 
education  must  be  an  important  element  in  the  education 
of  all  our  youth,  no  matter  what  they  are  going  to  do.  To 
know  the  real  world  is  absolutely  necessary  to  a  well- 
balanced  mind.  And  what  way  so  excellent  to  know  the 
world  as  to  engage  to  some  extent  in  what  the  world 
does? 


CHAPTER  VII 

Nature  Study 

At  a  meeting  of  the  School  Board  in  an  American  city 
a  number  of  years  ago,  a  member  suddenly  arose  and 
made  the  following  address.  "Mr.  Chairman:  I 
hear  that  there  is  a  study  taught  in  our  schools  called 
nature  study.  Now  I  think  that  subject  is  no  good  and 
I  move  that  it  be  abolished."  His  motion  did  not  pre- 
vail, but  it  received  two  or  three  votes  for  which  he 
had  probably  provided.  Fortunately  the  board  had 
a  member  who  was  able  to  demoHsh  his  proposition. 

The  interesting  part  of  the  incident  was  the  calm  assur- 
ance of  the  member.  He  had  made  no  investigation,  he 
had  not  consulted  the  superintendent,  but  he  had  pro- 
nounced the  subject  ''no  good,"  and  he  was  quite  sure 
that  it  must  appear  in  that  light  to  anybody.  It  was 
obviously  "no  good." 

Now  this  man  was  not  a  bad  man,  but  he  is  a  type  of 
a  class  of  people  who  hold  views  regarding  education 
which  they  are  pleased  to  designate  as  "practical."  It 
is  a  type  that  sees  in  any  effort  by  study  and  research 
to  discover  the  value  of  an  educational  proposition, 
an  evidence  of  impracticability,  and  labels  the  person  who 
would  thus  seek  to  arrive  at  truth  a  theorist  or  a  vision- 
ary.    But  on  the  other  hand,  to  be  very  positive  on  a 

89 


90  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

proposition  to  which  you  have  given  no  study,  is  being 
"practical."  Education,  religion,  and  pohtics  are  the 
favorite  stamping  grounds  of  these  "practical"  men, 
but  there  is  no  other  department  of  human  work  in 
regard  to  which  men  will  express  such  positive  opinions 
without  any  logical  basis  and  without  any  consideration, 
as  education.  When  you  pass  into  the  realm  of  money 
making,  where  financial  loss  rewards  the  man  who  does 
not  carefully  study  his  business,  the  value  of  such  practical 
men  diminishes.  We  find  the  practical  man  in  business,  of 
course,  but  he  corresponds  very  closely  to  the  so-called 
theorist  in  education.  He  is  the  man  who  has  a  reason. 
It  is  strange  how  many  hard,  practical  realities  like  the 
telephone  are  the  concrete  expression  of  theories. 

Ex-Superintendent  Seaver  of  Boston  referred,  in  one 
of  his  reports,  to  teachers  who  say  that  time  taken 
for  nature  study  is  time  that  belongs  to  the  "regular 
studies."  His  comment  is  graphic.  "Two  ideas  in  this 
quotation  are  significant  of  the  whole  educational 
philosophy  of  these  teachers"  (and  I  add,  and  laymen) ; 
"certain  studies  are  regular  (essential  is  sometimes  used), 
and  the  time  belongs  to  the  studies.  The  picture  pre- 
sented is  that  of  an  elevated  platform  built  of  planks, 
labeled  fractions,  interest,  complex  sentences,  adverbial 
phrases,  spelling,  capitals,  geographical  facts,  historical 
facts,  physiological  facts,  musical  intervals,  etc.  On 
this  platform  stands  the  teacher,  striving  with  might  and 
main  to  pull  up  to  it  and  place  upon  it,  in  good  standing 
position,  heads  erect,  eyes  forward  and  hands  by  the 


NATURE    STUDY  9I 

side,  as  many  children  as  possible.  A  few  children  are 
there  with  both  feet.  Many  are  clinging  to  the  edge, 
and,  with  the  teacher's  help,  strugghng  for  a  place. 
Many  more  have  given  up  the  struggle  in  despair,  and 
are  lying  helpless  at  the  foot.  Some  have  only  sat 
and  stared." 

Thoughtful  teachers  have  long  been  searching  for  a 
theory  to  account  for  a  lamentable  and  incontestable 
fact,  the  apathy  of  the  average  pupil.  The  theory  in 
this  case  is  that  he  seeks  the  activity  of  the  world, 
and  the  school  does  not  relate  him  closely  to  that  world. 
This  is  only  one  of  several  coordinate  theories,  but  it  is 
sufficient  to  account  for  a  great  deal.  If  one  accepts  the 
above  theory  he  will  find  that  it  rules  out  subjects  and 
methods  in  the  school  work  which  the  man  who  made  the 
motion  in  my  story  considers  self-evidently  correct,  and 
it  sanctions  subjects  and  methods  which  he  must  describe 
as  frills.  So  that,  when  it  is  said  that  the  newer  additions 
to  the  course  of  study  crowd  out  some  of  the  other  sub- 
jects, one  of  the  answers  is,  that  some  of  them  ought  to 
be  crowded  out.  A  course  in  frills  would  be  an  interesting 
field  for  consideration. 

Nature  study  is  a  fair  type  of  newer  studies  based,  let 
us  say,  on  theory.  I  want  to  illuminate  that  theory. 
The  fundamental  theory  has  been  indicated.  The  study 
brings  the  child  into  close  touch  with  life,  awakens 
his  interest,  and  thus  arouses  him  to  an  active  attitude 
toward  all  learning  that  is  also  related  to  life.  That  is 
the  theory.     But  let  us  go  into  details. 


92  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Froebel,  the  apostle  of  childhood  (not  merely  of  the 
kindergarten),  says,  the  business  of  the  child  is  ''collecting 
material."  Let  me  quote  some  of  his  pictures  of  child- 
hood.    They  are  very  beautiful  and  very  true  to  life. 

"Behold  the  child  laboriously  stooping  and  slowly 
going  forward  on  the  ground,  under  the  eaves  of  the  roof. 
The  force  of  the  rain  has  washed  out  of  the  sand  small, 
smooth,  bright  pebbles,  and  the  ever-observing  child 
gathers  them  as  building  stones,  as  it  were,  as  material 
for  future  building.  And  is  he  wrong?  Does  not  the 
child  in  truth  collect  material  for  his  future  life-build- 
ing? 

"To  climb  a  new  tree  means  to  the  boy  the  discovery  of 
a  new  world.  The  outlook  from  above  shows  everything 
so  different  from  the  ordinary  cramped  and  distorted  side 
view.  How  clear  and  distinct  everything  hes  beneath 
him  !  Could  we  but  recall  the  feelings  that  filled  our 
hearts  and  souls  in  boyhood,  when  the  narrow  limits 
of  our  surroundings  sank  before  our  extended  view  ! 

"An  indefinable  longing  urges  him  to  seek  the  things  of 
Nature,  the  hidden  objects,  plants  and  flowers,  etc.,  in 
Nature ;  for  a  constant  presentiment  assures  him  that  the 
things  that  satisfy  the  longing  of  the  heart  cannot  be 
found  on  the  surface ;  out  of  the  depth  and  darkness  they 
must  be  brought  forth." 

Any  one  who  has  examined  the  contents  of  a  boy's 
pocket  does  not  need  to  be  told  that  the  boy  is  "collecting 
material."  To  some  of  us  this  material  is  trash.  To  the 
boy,  every  piece  of  string,  pebble,  bit  of  glass,  or  dead 


NATURE    STUDY  93 

mouse  is  the  concrete  expression  of  a  story.  Every  bit 
of  trash  has  an  interpretation  which  the  boy  either 
has  or  seeks.  If  the  teacher  or  parent  can  give  this 
interpretation,  the  restless  activity  of  the  child  continues 
undiminished.  To  the  end  he  is  an  inquirer.  If  we  fail  to 
give  the  interpretation,  the  activity  fades  and  the  child 
soon  inquires  no  more.  He  ceases  to  ask  questions.  Can 
a  sadder  condition  of  things  be  conceived?  Inconsid- 
erate and  impatient  parents  often  help  to  destroy  the 
investigating  spirit  of  the  child  by  saying,  "Oh,  do  stop 
bothering  me  with  your  questions."  How  are  we  going  to 
educate  a  child  who  does  not  care  ? 

Froebel  tells  the  story  thus:  "The  boy  seeks  from 
adults  the  confirmation  of  his  inner,  spiritual  antici- 
pations, and  justly  so,  from  an  intuitive  sense  of  what 
the  elder  ought  to  be,  from  respect  for  the  elder.  If  he 
fails  to  find  it,  a  double  effect  follows,  —  a  loss  of  respect 
for  the  elder  and  a  recoil  of  the  original  inner  anticipa- 
tion." 

Note  the  word  "interpretation."  The  whole  of  edu- 
cation is  bound  up  in  the  word.  When  we  educate  a 
boy  we  seek  to  help  him  to  interpret  the  things  he  sees 
and  the  thoughts  he  thinks.  And  education  is  dead 
or  living  as  we  fail  or  succeed  in  keeping  alive  the  desire 
for  interpretation;  not  mere  facts  but  the  meaning  of 
these  facts,  and  above  all  their  meaning  to  him.  Inter- 
pretation of  himself  and  his  surroundings  is  the  meaning 
of  play,  of  story  telling,  of  research.  But  to  interpret  he 
must  see  accurately,  compare  carefully,  reason  logically. 


94  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

picture  graphically.  Nature  study  furnishes  the  oppor- 
tunity for  this  practice.  But  note  that  the  training  of 
these  faculties  is  of  the  utmost  value  in  all  education. 
It  is  of  the  last  importance  that  this  training  should  be 
applied  to  arithmetic,  chemistry,  or  language.  The 
trained  mind  brings  to  the  work  of  the  school  the  power 
gained  from  all  sources,  perhaps  in  the  fields.  Surely  this 
matter  that  we  are  now  considering  is  very  practical. 

But  alas  !  when  we  enter  the  actual  field  of  education 
it  is  not  to  be  assumed  because  nature  study  should  do 
this,  that  it  is  doing  it.  As  in  many  another  field  of 
education,  teachers  have  sadly  mistaken  its  purpose  and 
the  subject  is  yet  in  a  state  of  flux.  They  have  tried 
to  teach  facts  without  their  reaction  and  have  even  gone 
so  far  as  to  teach  science.  They  have  succeeded  in 
destroying  the  child's  interest  in  nature  by  cramming 
him  with  the  facts  of  nature,  and  thus  have  made  of 
no  effect  the  argument  in  favor  of  nature  study  and  have 
rejected  its  beneficent  mission.  Here  again  our  courses 
of  study  have  followed  our  own  notions  and  not  those 
of  the  children.  It  is  the  old  story.  There  are,  for 
example,  three  indications  (not  inclusive)  as  to  a  rational 
course  of  nature  study:  (a)  children  love  life; 
(b)  children  love  beauty;  (c)  children  observe  in  an 
objective  way.  These  principles  would  rule  out  many 
courses  of  nature  study.  They  would  rule  out  minerals 
until  the  student  had  passed  the  age  of  boyhood. 
They  would  rule  out  for  a  long  time  a  stuffed  owl;  a 
live   cat   is  better.     They  would   rule   out  pistils  and 


NATURE  STUDY  95 

stamens,  scientifically  considered.  They  would  rule  out, 
for  a  long  while  at  least,  a  very  analytical  observation. 

In  a  word,  nature  study  is  not  science  and  does  not 
resemble  it.  It  takes  the  facts  on  which  science  is  based 
and  treats  them  from  a  child's  standpoint. 

The  absence  of  the  rural  environment  is  aesthetically 
and  morally  a  sad  fact  in  the  city  boy's  development. 
Whatever  leads  him  to  the  study  of  nature  measurably 
supplies  this  lack,  but  it  must  be  the  study  of  nature 
and  not  of  books  about  nature.  We  cannot  teach 
science  to  the  children ;  we  have  not  the  time,  the 
field  is  too  broad,  the  pupils  have  not,  and  cannot 
acquire  in  childhood,  habits  of  scientific  thought, 
and  the  teachers  have  not  the  scientific  preparation 
for  the  teaching,  even  if  all  else  were  favorable. 
To  attempt  it  will  result  in  the  memorizing  of  a  larger 
or  smaller  mass  of  undigested  and  indigestible  facts. 

It  is  hard  to  fully  convince  ourselves  of  the  truth  that 
the  function  of  this  branch  of  study  is  not  to  store  the 
mind  with  facts.  I  have  witnessed  recitations  in  which, 
in  spite  of  the  enthusiasm  and  laborious  preparation  of 
the  teacher,  the  results  were  very  unsatisfactory.  The 
pupils  were  not  stimulated  to  a  closer  observation  of 
nature  and  not  to  a  perceptible  extent  to  a  greater  inter- 
est in  nature. 

In  another  class  a  more  agreeable  picture  was  pre- 
sented.    My  notes  on  the  lesson  read  as  follows  :  — 

''The  development  lesson  of  the  tadpole  to  the  frog 
was  rather  remarkable.     The  children  were  full  of  life, 


96  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

answered  promptly,  and  showed  great  discernment  and 
perceptive  power.  The  lesson  was  well  managed,  the 
pupils  being  continually  thrown  back  on  what  they  had 
themselves  observed.  The  lesson  called  in  many  col- 
lateral subjects  where  the  main  subject  admitted  of 
this  treatment.  Thus  the  strong  hind  legs  suggested 
the  kangaroo;  the  eyes,  the  cats  and  owls,  etc.  The 
subject  was  also  appHed  to  a  language  lesson." 

There  are  two  other  considerations  of  more  than  pass- 
ing interest  which  apply  to  this  subject,  to  which  I  must 
refer  even  in  a  discussion  necessarily  as  restricted  as 
this.  One  is  the  development  of  the  appreciation  of 
beauty.  "Beauty,"  said  Plato,  "is  the  splendor  of 
truth."  Sidney  Lanier  said,  "There  is  not  only  a 
'beauty  of  hohness,'  there  is  also  a  holiness  of  beauty." 
And  Froebel  said,  "A  keen,  critical  eye  can  discern  in 
the  work  of  art  the  artist's  powers  of  thought  and  feeling, 
as  well  as  their  state  of  cultivation ;  "  thus,  too,  the 
creative  spirit  of  God  may  be  discerned  in  Nature, 
in  his  work. 

In  a  word,  a  sense  of  beauty  is  an  aid  to  the  living  of 
a  good  hfe  and  leads  indeed  to  a  knowledge  of  God  him- 
self. 

The  other  consideration  is  akin  to  this.  Nature  leads 
man  to  God  not  only  because  of  its  beauty  but  because  of 
its  unity.  "For,"  says  Froebel,  "the  boy  of  this  age, 
who  has  been  led  naturally,  however  feebly  and  uncon- 
sciously, seeks,  in  fact,  only  the  unity  that  unites  all 
things,    the   absolute   living   Unity,  the   source    of   all 


NATURE   STUDY  97 

things,  —  God ;  not  a  god  made  and  fashioned  by- 
human  wit,  but  He  who  is  ever  near  the  heart  and 
mind,  near  the  living  spirit,  and  who  therefore  may  be 
known  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  who  alone  can  be  thus 
approached." 

In  a  Scotch  home  the  good  man  was  sick.  The 
doctor  on  leaving  one  evening  impressed  upon  his  wife 
that  she  was  to  give  her  husband  every  hour  just  so 
much  of  the  powder  as  would  go  on  a  sixpence.  The 
next  day  he  found  the  man  much  worse.  Had  she 
given  only  the  amount  of  powder  that  would  go  on  a 
sixpence?  "Yes,"  the  good  wife  answered,  "but  I  had 
no  sixpence,  and  I  had  five  pennies  and  two  hapennies 
and  I  put  the  powder  on  those." 

Education  is  not  a  matter  of  quantity. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Play 

"If  children  were  compelled  to  submit  to  the  condi- 
tions and  processes  of  most  schools  during  the  whole  of 
their  waking  hours  for  the  first  twenty  years  of  their 
lives,  their  physical,  mental,  and  moral  development 
would  be  stunted.  The  race  has  been  saved  by  the 
shortness  of  the  school  hours  and  the  persistent  recupera- 
tive elasticity  of  the  individuality  of  childhood." 

I  offer  the  above  startling  quotation  from  James  L. 
Hughes,  Inspector  of  Pubhc  Schools,  Toronto,  Canada.* 
It  is  rather  startling  to  be  told  that  our  vaunted  system 
of  education  if  pushed  to  the  limit  would  "stunt  physical, 
moral,  and  mental  development,"  and  that  we  are  saved 
only  because  there  is  an  antidote.  I  quote  Inspector 
Hughes  again :  — 

"The  child  of  the  fourth  generation  brought  up  in  a 
large  city  is  a  pathetic  study.  He  is  one  of  the  saddest 
sights  in  the  world,  because  he  is  almost  without  the 
instinct  of  play.  Slavery  left  behind  it  the  evidence  of  its 
terrible  nature  in  a  race  of  children  who  do  not  know  how 
to  play,  from  whom  the  tendency  to  play  has  been  almost 

'  It  is  a  unique  coincidence  that  in  this  chapter  —  the  last  writing  of 
Mr.  Gregory  —  he  should  have  quoted  so  much  from  the  man  who  was 
to  have  the  honour  of  preparing  his  work  for  publication.  —  Editor. 

98 


PLAY  99 

eliminated.  Rev.  William  Gillies,  the  veteran  educator 
of  Jamaica,  reports  that  'one  of  the  greatest  difficulties 
to  be  overcome  in  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral 
evolution  of  the  negro  race  in  Jamaica  is  the  fact  that  the 
children  have  lost  the  play  spirit.'" 

The  thought  may  cross  a  layman's  mind  that  the 
school  is  not  the  place  for  play.  The  fact  is,  even  we 
teachers  do  not  grasp  its  significance  in  education  as 
we  shall  in  the  future.  Perhaps  an  extreme  picture  may 
help  us  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  truth.  What  sort  of  a 
man  would  that  child  grow  up  to  be  who  had  never  played 
at  all,  who  had  never  even  learned  to  play  ? 

Here  are  certain  phenomena,  i.  Many  children  in 
our  city  do  not  know  how  to  play,  scarcely  know  the  first 
element  of  play.  The  play  instinct  has  been  crushed  out 
by  poverty,  by  a  heritage  of  oppression,  by  too  early 
responsibihty.  2.  With  most  children  in  crowded  city 
life  many  plays  are  impossible.  The  streets  do  not  permit 
the  freedom  which  many  games  require;  the  concomi- 
tants of  brick  walls  and  hard  pavements  forbid  un- 
restrained play.  3.  Under  the  best  conditions  there  are 
many  plays  which  children  do  not  know.  Such  plays 
are  often  of  a  highly  educational  character. 

Here  are  the  results.  I  name  them  in  their  order  as 
they  concern  our  work  in  the  schoolroom,  and  from  the 
bottom  up. 

I.  Absence  of  joy.  2.  Listlessness  and  apathy.  3.  Ab- 
sence of  ambition.  4.  Absence  of  self -activity.  5.  Lack 
of    the    very  elements    on  which    interest    is   based,  in 


lOO  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

the  school  subjects  presented  for  their  consideration. 
6.  Feeble  social  instinct  such  as  should  lead  to  helpful- 
ness, kindness.     7.  Excessive  self-importance. 

No  one  who  has  seen  a  dead  reading  lesson  and  has 
looked  into  the  expressionless  faces  of  the  children,  and 
listened  to  their  meaningless  reading,  can  fail  to  come 
to  the  very  obvious  conclusion  that  something  is  the 
matter.  There  may  be  various  causes,  but  one  of  these 
often  is  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  child's  mind  with 
which  the  ideas  of  the  reading  book  may  be  connected. 
But  as  reading  books  deal  with  childish  ideas,  the  cause 
we  have  thus  suggested  must  be  translated  thus :  the 
class  before  us  is  not  composed  of  real  children.  And 
this  may  easily  be  the  case. 

Froebel  divides  human  hfe  into  infancy,  childhood, 
boyhood,  youth,  and  manhood.  Let  us  accept  this  classifi- 
cation as  sufficiently  accurate,  and  then  let  us  accept  also 
his  solemn  dictum  that  no  one  can  be  what  one  stage  de- 
mands without  having  lived  through  the  preceding  stages, 

I  quote  the  great  educator's  exact  language:  "The 
boy  has  not  become  a  boy,  nor  has  a  youth  become  a 
youth,  by  reaching  a  certain  age,  but  only  by  having 
lived  through  childhood,  and  further  on,  through  boy- 
hood, true  to  the  requirements  of  his  mind,  his  feel- 
ings and  his  body ;  similarly,  adult  man  has  not  become 
an  adult  man  by  reaching  a  certain  age,  but  only  by 
faithfully  satisfying  the  requirements  of  his  childhood, 
boyhood,  and  youth.  The  child,  the  boy,  the  man, 
indeed,  should    know  no  other  endeavor  but   to  be  at 


PLAY  I 01 

every  stage  of  development  wholly  what  this  stage 
calls  for.  Then  will  each  successive  stage  spring  Hke  a 
new  shoot  from  a  healthy  bud  ;  and,  at  each  succes- 
sive stage,  he  will  with  the  same  endeavor  again  accom- 
plish the  requirements  of  this  stage :  for  only  the  ade- 
quate development  of  man  at  each  preceding  stage  can 
affect  and  bring  about  adequate  development  at  each  suc- 
ceeding later  stage."  In  other  words,  if  our  children 
have  not  had  a  childhood,  we  must  give  them  one. 

Now  let  us  look  this  proposition  fairly  in  the  face. 
Many  children  never  have  a  real  childhood,  and  many 
others  a  very  incomplete  and  inadequate  childhood. 

It  is  well  to  pause  at  this  point  and  ask  ourselves  the 
question.  "  Is  it  really  true  that  man  must  not  only  live 
through,  but  experience,  all  the  natural  periods  of  life  to 
become  a  perfect  adult?"  I  recall  a  delightful  lecture 
on  "Old  Age"  by  my  friend,  Professor  Starbuck,  of  the 
University  of  Iowa.  In  it  was  this  statement:  "To 
have  a  green  old  age  one  must  have  had  a  happy  child- 
hood." Is  this  true?  If  the  baby  did  not  fondle  her 
mother,  if  the  little  girl  did  not  play  with  dolls,  if  the 
httle  boy  did  not  run  and  jump  extravagantly,  if  the  high 
school  boy  never  played  ball,  would  the  resultant  man  or 
woman  be  just  as  good  a  product  ?  Who  believes  that 
he  or  she  would  ? 

But  granting  the  necessity,  is  school  the  place  for 
play,  especially  for  organized  play? 

Now  let  us  remember  there  are  certain  tilings  that  all 
children  do  (the  exceptions  are  insignificant),  they  talk, 


102  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

sing,  draw,  love  animals,  love  beauty,  play.  This  is 
not  a  complete  inventory,  but  it  will  do.  Let  us  assume 
that  these  activities  are  God's  will  concerning  the  child. 
Let  us  assume  also  that  they  are  His  indications  as  to  the 
child's  culture  as  truly  as  the  fact  that  cranberries  grow 
in  a  bog  is  His  indication  as  to  the  cultivation  of  that 
fruit.  We  admit  the  talking,  and  we  embody  language 
in  our  curriculum.  Following  the  above  indications,  we 
enter  music,  drawing,  nature  study,  and  art  in  the  same 
curriculum.  But  what  about  play?  Will  the  child  do 
as  well  by  himself?  No  one  who  knows  children  will 
grant  this.  He  may  fail  to  learn  to  play,  or  he  may  play 
very  unintelligently  or  within  narrow  limits,  or  he  may 
play  immorally.  And  in  any  case  the  long  train  of 
blessings  which  follow  in  the  train  of  organized,  directed 
play  will  be  lost.  And  let  it  be  remembered  that  organi- 
zation and  direction  need  in  no  way  interfere  with  spon- 
taneity in  play.  The  opposite  is  pure  assumption. 
But  what  are  these  blessings  ? 

1.  Play  is  the  first  self-occupation  of  the  child,  and 
therefore  it  is  the  awakening  of  his  individuality.  The 
failure  of  our  American  schools  to  evoke  individuality 
invites  a  serious  and  just  criticism.  We  cannot  ignore 
any  agency  that  develops  initiative.  Play  is  the  truest 
form  of  child  self-activity.  All  that  he  does  in  play  is 
done  in  response  to  his  own  desire. 

2.  Play  is  pecuHarly  the  child's  mode  of  self-expres- 
sion. Here,  at  least,  he  acts  with  freedom.  Thereby 
he  comes  to  know  himself  and  we  come  to  know  him. 


PLAY  103 

"Freedom  is  characteristic  of  the  lives  of  birds  and 
animals,  and  of  primitive  man.  It  is  the  very  Hfeblood 
of  play."  With  this  comes  a  sense  of  power,  a  priceless 
possession  but  one  often  missing  in  the  child's  character. 
And  to  this  must  be  added  faith  in  one's  self.  "Step  by 
step,"  says  Hughes,  "a  boy  can  measure  his  progress 
among  his  fellows  and  relatively  compare  his  strength 
of  to-day  with  his  weakness  of  last  year,  and  at  each  step 
in  advance  there  comes  into  his  life  a  consciousness  of 
new  power." 

3.  Hughes  says,  "The  boy  is  filled  with  a  passionate 
desire  to  modify  the  conditions  of  things.  Unfortunately, 
most  of  us  lose  this  aggressive  attitude,  which  is  the  foun- 
dation of  all  progress,  as  we  grow  older,  and  passively 
accept  conventional  conditions  as  we  find  them.  Play 
with  material  things  is  the  highest  possible  means  for 
making  an  original  and  intelligent  worker." 

4.  Play  is  the  child's  work.  It  is  not  true  that  love  of 
play  destroys  love  of  work.  The  very  opposite  is  true. 
Any  one  who  enters  a  classroom  and  sees  a  class  settle 
down  to  work  after  a  game  must  give  up  such  a  notion. 
The  qualities  that  enter  into  earnest  play  are  the  same 
as  those  that  enter  into  earnest  work.  By  wise  manipu- 
lation these  qualities  may  be  transferred  to  work,  and 
this  is  actually  accomplished  by  many  a  teacher. 

The  qualities  just  alluded  to  constitute  some  of  the 
blessings  of  play.  Let  us  enumerate  them  :  habit  of  atten- 
tion, power  in  competition,  self-control,  energy  of  charac- 
ter, courage,  enthusiasm,  independence. 


I04  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

5.  One  of  the  most  important  results  in  play  is  what  is 
called  motor  training.  The  term  means  a  very  simple 
thing.  The  motor  nerves  run  from  the  brain  to  various 
parts  of  the  body,  and  through  them  the  brain  issues  its 
commands.  If  another  person  commands,  the  brain  re- 
ceives the  command  and  transmits  it  through  the  motor 
nerves  to  the  proper  activities.  But  the  brain  may  issue 
its  own  commands.  There  are  two  classes  of  people 
in  the  world:  those  who  think  and  act  for  themselves, 
and  those  who  act  for  others.  And  the  teachers  of 
the  world  fall  into  two  classes,  depending  on  which 
product  they  turn  out.  The  critics  say  that  the  bulk 
of  our  product  is  composed  of  those  who  do  not  think  for 
themselves. 

But  in  a  game  the  boy  who  cannot  think  for  himself 
is  lost.  He  must  make  a  multitude  of  decisions,  make 
them  quickly,  and  if  he  hesitates  or  errs,  it  makes  no 
difference,  he  must  suffer.  His  brain  must  act  with 
celerity  and  his  body  must  respond  instantaneously  and 
accurately.  "No  other  process,"  says  Hughes,  "so 
completely  develops  the  mastery  of  the  mind  over  the 
body  and  so  fully  trains  the  body  to  respond  perfectly 
to  the  mind  as  a  good  game." 

6.  Respect  for  law  and  a  comprehension  of  one's  relation 
to  his  fellows  constitute  another  outcome.  In  play  the 
boy  is  among  his  equals  and  there  is  no  other  course  than 
to  respect  the  rules  of  the  game.  Plato  said:  "If 
children  are  trained  to  submit  to  laws  in  their  plays,  the 
love  for  law  enters  their  souls  with  the  music  accompany- 


PLAY  105 

ing  their  games,  never  leaves  them,  and  helps  them  in 
their  development." 

But  more  than  this,  the  boy  is  a  member  of  a  commu- 
nity, a  free  individual,  but  bound  by  obHgations.  He 
has  his  own  part  to  play  in  the  game,  and  he  must  play 
that  part  with  all  his  skill  or  the  team  loses.  This  is  a 
training  in  a  very  simple  principle  underlying  the  consti- 
tution of  society,  a  principle  that  every  citizen  must 
respect. 

7.  Play  has  another  relation  to  law,  of  a  very  important 
character.  It  prevents  lawlessness  by  providing  an 
outlet  for  the  superfluous  energy  of  the  child.  Many  a 
teacher  has  failed  to  recognize  this  elementary  principle. 
If  she  provides  a  way  for  the  stored-up  energy  to  expend 
itself,  it  will  not  expend  itself  in  disorder.  But  in  some 
way  it  must  find  an  outlet.  A  game  discharges  the  over- 
charged battery  and  equilibrium  is  restored.  Mr.  Hughes 
put  it  very  truly,  "A  playing  school  is  easily  controlled." 

8.  Play  is  a  moral  force.  Of  course  "play  as  a  form  of 
social  conduct  is  either  moral  or  immoral,  just  as  life 
itself  or  any  other  social  action  is."  But  under  social 
direction  play  always  tends  to  be  a  moral  force.  The 
considerations  I  have  already  adduced  indicate  that,  and 
in  addition,  "play  can  never  be  maintained  for  long  or  on 
a  high  level  except  under  conditions  of  friendhness.  Any 
expression  of  dishonesty  or  selfishness  tends  to  chill  the 
social  atmosphere  and  makes  the  game  flag.  Play  is 
preeminently  social."  Froebel  considered  play  a  kind 
of  religious  exercise  for  children. 


I06  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

9.  One  of  the  important  outcomes  in  play  is  joy. 
Froebel  says  it  is  "the  sense  of  sure  and  reliable  power,  the 
sense  of  its  increase  both  as  an  individual  and  as  a  member 
of  the  group,  that  fills  the  boy  with  all-pervading,  jubilant 
joy  during  these  games."  Happiness  is  not  merely  a 
desirable  condition  for  children;  it  is  the  basis  of  their 
best  work,  of  their  highest  activity.  It  stimulates  both 
body  and  mind.    Its  absence  means  apathy,  heaviness. 

10.  Finally,  I  quote  once  more  from  my  friend  Mr. 
Hughes.  "The  weakening  self -consciousness  of  child- 
hood, the  most  restrictive  influence  in  a  child's  life, 
is  overcome  by  social  intercourse  on  the  playground 
under  the  stimulating  conditions  of  cooperative  effort 
to  achieve  success."  I  think  it  is  very  easy  to  miss  this 
significance  of  the  catalogue  of  the  blessings  of  play  which 
I  have  offered  in  this  and  in  my  preceding  article.  The 
conclusion  to  be  arrived  at  is  not  that  play  is  a  pleasant 
recreation  of  childhood  for  which  we  ought  to  make  suit- 
able provision,  but  that  it  is  an  essential  feature  in  the 
child's  growth  toward  manhood.  It  cannot  be  left  out 
without  great  loss  to  development,  not  to  the  child  merely, 
but  to  the  resultant  man  or  woman.  We  adults  look 
on  play  from  our  own  standpoint,  that  is  to  say,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  what  it  means  to  us,  —  recreation  ;  but 
that  is  a  misleading  view.  The  Springfield  Republican 
puts  it  thus:  "Play  is  the  serious  work  of  the  child's 
life,  and  forms  the  foundation  of  his  future  character 
growth  and  very  existence.  Nature,  realizing  its  impor- 
tance, clothed  it  in  attractive  garb,  instilled  the  instinct 


PLAY  107 

for  its  indulgence  in  various  advanced  forms  during  the 
different  stages  of  the  child's  growth,  and,  following 
naturally  ordained  lines,  there  is  produced  the  man  or 
woman  designed  for,  and  capable  of  carrying  on,  their 
work  in  the  progress  of  the  world.  Without  knowing  it, 
the  amused  child  may  be  taught  to  develop  self-control, 
to  love  and  adhere  to  law  and  duty,  to  be  generous  to  his 
fellow-playmates;  in  a  word,  the  playground  child  be- 
comes a  good  and  desirable  citizen  without  perceiving  the 
process.  If  'the  child  without  a  playground  is  father  to  ■ 
the  man  without  a  job,'  and  'the  man  without  a  job  is  | 
father  to  the  man  without  a  country,'  the  status  of  the 
city  which  fails  to  supply  to  its  growing  citizens  an  ade- 
quate number  of  playtime  spaces  is  easily  fixed." 

A  study  of  the  conditions  of  childhood,  especially  in 
the  less  favored  portions  of  our  community,  but  really  in 
all  classes,  convinced  me  long  ago  that  the  great  enemy  of 
the  teacher  is  the  apathy  of  school  children.  If  a  child's 
mind  is  asleep  in  the  classroom,  if  he  will  not  wake  up 
and  seize  the  privileges  offered,  it  is  idle  to  offer  the 
privileges.  Under  such  conditions  the  teacher  may  go 
through  the  motions  of  teaching,  but  education  is  at  a 
standstill.  In  some  cases,  in  view  of  the  unfortunate 
previous  history  and  present  environment,  the  passive, 
listless  attitude  of  the  children  gives  one  the  impression 
of  hopelessness. 

With  this  state  of  things  in  view  I  inaugurated,  several 
years  ago,  experiments  in  organized  play  in  the  school 
buildings  to  rouse  children  to  an  interest  in  themselves 


Io8  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

and  the  world  around  them.  The  children  of  the 
primary  departments  of  several  schools  were  to  be 
brought  together  regularly  and  in  groups,  for  games  in 
each  school.  They  were  also,  as  far  as  possible,  to  be 
taken  out  on  walks  to  parks  and  shops  to  awaken  their 
interest  in  a  new  world.     This  was  the  experimental  stage. 

In  one  school,  through  the  months  of  December, 
January,  February,  March,  and  part  of  April,  the  hall  was 
in  almost  constant  use  for  three  days  each  week.  Two 
classes —  (loo  pupils)  — occupied  the  hall  at  a  time.  The 
classes  were  grouped  by  related  grades  so  that  the  social 
side,  or  spirit  of  entertaining,  might  be  introduced  to  this 
class  of  pupils  who  so  need  it. 

Pupils  were  first  taught  to  form  a  circle  without  assist- 
ance. Songs  were  sung,  and  exercises  given  to  music. 
The  exercises  were  to  teach  grace,  concentration,  and 
appHcation,  as  no  verbal  directions  were  given.  These 
exercises  were  greatly  enjoyed  by  all  classes.  Next  came 
complete  relaxation  and  rest,  after  which  came  directed 
activity  in  ball  or  bean-bag  games  of  various  kinds.  Then, 
for  a  moment  or  two  came  another  rest  period,  after  which 
plays  selected  by  the  children  were  used.  Every  class 
marched  by  twos  and  fours,  and  the  older  ones  by 
eights.  I  believe  in  a  great  deal  of  music,  and  in  the 
absence  of  the  nervous  haste  that  is  common  among  this 
class  of  people. 

In  another  school,  although  the  time  taken  for  play  was 
entirely  outside  of  school  time,  yet  the  average  attend- 
ance was  thirty-seven  out  of  a  class  of  forty-eight.     The 


PLAY  109 

number  never  fell  below  thirty.  They  played  catch  with 
bean  bags  and  balls,  ring  bean  bag,  drop  the  bean  bag, 
squirrel,  bounce  ball,  birds  in  the  nest,  pigeon  house, 
bull  in  the  ring,  going  to  Paris,  London  Bridge,  "  In  and 
out  the  windows,"  ^' Five  little  chicadees,"  and  "As  I 
was  going  down  the  street."     They  practiced  marching. 

As  a  result,  I  think  we  demonstrated  the  truth  of  two 
propositions :  first,  that  children  need  a  childhood  in 
order  that  they  may  be  educated  ;  second,  that  the  child- 
hood may  be  measurably  supplied  when  it  is  lacking. 
The  experiment  was  a  success.  The  children  learned  how 
to  play,  and  many  of  them  did  not  know  how  to  play 
before.  The  expression  and  manner  of  the  children 
brightened  conspicuously.  The  effect  was  seen  in  their 
daily  work,  and  in  the  course  of  a  couple  of  years 
there  seemed  to  come  an  entire  change  of  attitude  on  the 
part  of  the  children  toward  their  work.  They  seemed 
to  show  the  real  characteristics,  the  instincts  and  loves  of 
childhood. 

Finally,  the  introduction  of  dramatic  representation 
into  the  reading  lessons  of  the  pupils  always  results  in  a 
great  love  for  this  kind  of  play.  It  is  very  simple.  The 
story  of  the  lesson,  or  any  other  story,  is  acted  by 
the  pupils  in  groups  very  much  after  the  manner  of  the 
old-fashioned  dialogue,  but  with  much  more  action  and 
almost  no  formality.  It  is  practically  play.  The  piece 
is  not  rehearsed  to  make  it  a  show  piece.  Its  educative 
possibilities  are  exhausted  and  a  new  one  takes  its  place. 
Dramatic  reading  and  dramatic  action  are  an  appKcation 


no  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

of  the  self-activity  of  the  child  to  expression.  The  basal 
conception  of  their  work  is  that  the  child  shall  look  upon 
expression  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  first  person  rather 
than  of  the  third,  and  the  difficult  thing  in  teaching  is  to 
get  him  to  look  at  his  studies  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  first  person. 

In  all  this,  which  takes  but  little  time,  there  is  an 
appeal  to  the  principles  that  underlie  the  play  instinct. 
I  think  that  few  teachers  will  claim  that  the  five  minutes 
thus  expended  would  be  better  expended  on  arithmetic. 
On  the  contrary,  a  five-minute  game  and  a  twenty-five 
minute  exercise  in  arithmetic  are  worth  more  in  the 
interest  of  arithmetic  than  a  thirty-minute  arithmetic 
exercise  without  the  game. 

Groos  says,  "Animals  do  not  play  because  they  are 
young,  but  rather  have  a  period  of  infancy  in  order  that 
they  may  play."  This  is  even  more  true  of  children. 
If  the  school  should  be  an  institution  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  child's  power  — not  merely  for  knowledge 
storing  —  it  cannot  fully  achieve  its  purpose  without 
providing  the  best  possible  opportunities  for  play. 


CHAPTER   IX 
Popular  Criticisms  of  Schools 

There  are  at  least  three  broad  criticisms  made  by  the 
public  on  our  schools.  By  our  schools  I  mean  the  schools 
of  the  United  States.  First :  "  There  are  too  many  things 
taught,  and  the  essentials,  so  called,  are  slighted."  Sec- 
ond :  "  The  teaching  does  not  meet  the  needs  of  the  times, 
and  especially  tends  to  a  want  of  respect  for  labor." 
Third  :  "  The  class  of  young  people  turned  out  are  not  a 
practical,  efficient  class ;  they  are  wanting  in  gumption, 
have  little  application  and  sense  of  responsibility." 

These  are  only  the  criticisms  from  the  lay  public  outside 
of  the  ranks  of  educators.  From  within  those  ranks  come 
the  same  criticisms  in  a  modified  form,  and  a  host  of 
others  of  which  the  public  knows  nothing.  These  criti- 
cisms are  very  interesting.  It  would  be  just  as  foolish 
to  deny  them  entirely  as  to  admit  them  entirely.  Let  us 
look  at  them : 

First :  "  The  schools  teach  too  many  things  and  the 
essentials  are  slighted."  There  is  one  curious  and  rather 
amusing  assumption  that  looms  up  at  the  outset  when  we 
examine  this  criticism  at  short  range.  It  is  assumed  as 
a  fact  that  does  not  need  proof  that  formerly  the  essen- 
tials were  taught  well  or  at  least  better  than  they  are  now. 


112  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Formerly,  we  drilled  on  these  essentials  and  of  course  we 
had  success;  nowadays  we  have  the  child  studying  so 
much  that,  of  course,  the  essentials  must  be  neglected. 

This  is  the  statement  of  the  critics.  Now  the  principal 
trouble  with  this  statement  is  that  "it  isn't  so."  We  did 
dwell  on  the  essentials  in  the  good  old  days ;  but  we  got 
no  better,  but  rather  worse,  results  than  we  get  now.  To 
support  this  proposition  we  do  not  have  to  rely  on  the 
untrustworthy  and  often  partial  memories  of  the  people 
who  make  this  claim.  Fortunately,  written  results  of 
former  days  are  still  accessible  and  are  easily  examined. 
Let  us  look  at  some  of  them.  They  are  instructive  and 
entertaining. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  recent  discussions  of 
the  "three  R's"  appeared  in  a  little  pamphlet  reprinted 
mostly  from  the  Springfield  Republican  in  1905,  entitled, 
"The  Springfield  Tests." 

In  1890  there  were  discovered  in  the  attic  of  the 
high  school  building  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
several  old  sets  of  examination  papers  that  had  been 
written  in  the  fall  of  1846.  These  papers  consisted  of 
printed  questions  in  geography  and  arithmetic,  with 
answers  written  on  the  printed  sheets,  and  written  tests 
in  spelling  and  penmanship.  Mr.  Parish,  the  second 
principal  of  the  Springfield  High  School,  gave  these  exam- 
inations to  his  pupils.  They  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  Superintendent  Balliet  of  Springfield  and  preserved 
by  him  in  his  safe. 

Two   of   these   tests,   spelling   and  arithmetic,   were 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF    SCHOOLS  II3 

given  to  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  ninth-grade  pupils 
of  the  local  schools  of  Springfield  in  March,  1905,  and  the 
results  were  carefully  compared  with  the  results  of  the 
tests  of  1846.  The  children  of  five  schools  took  part  in 
the  examination.  The  papers  were  sent  to  the  directing 
principal  and  he  examined  and  marked,  according  to  a 
uniform  standard,  the  papers  of  the  new  and  the  old  tests. 
The  following  are  the  results : 


Spelling : 

1846 

1 90s 

Number  of  pupils  who  took  tests, 

85 

245 

Average  per  cent  correct, 

40.6 

51.2 

Arithmetic : 

Number  of  pupils  who  took  test, 

79 

245 

Average  per  cent  correct, 

29.4 

65.5 

Of  the  class  of  1846,  only  sixteen  of  the  eighty-five  pupils 
stood  as  high  as  70  per  cent  in  this  spelling  test,  the 
present  "passing"  mark  in  most  schools.  Three  pupils 
had  no  words  spelled  correctly ;  nine  had  only  one  right ; 
while  twenty-four,  or  more  than  one  fourth  of  the  entire 
class,  misspelled  seventeen  or  more  words. 

The  word  heiress  was  spelled  in  the  following  ways  by 
the  pupils  of  1846,  —  heirress,  hurriss,  heirruis,  heirees, 
heirness,  hioress,  heress,  hirresa,  hereis,  airress,  airess, 
airest,  airresst,  airhess,  arress,  arris,  arriss,  ariest,  areress, 
arerest,  eirress. 

A  little  geography  spelling  is  also  interesting ;  Agasta, 
Bristle,  Suffork,  Midlesex,  Esexx,  Berkshiere,  Eirie, 
Ontareio,  Mane,  Vamont,  Rodiland,  Connetticut,  Corne- 
dicut,  Newjessy,  Pencilvany,  Mishegan,  Mysurie,  Misury. 


114  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

In  arithmetic  I  select  the  first  two  examples,  i.  Add 
together  the  following  numbers :  Three  thousand  and 
nine,  twenty-nine,  one,  three  hundred  and  one,  sixty-one, 
sixteen,  seven  hundred,  two,  nine  thousand,  nineteen 
and  a  half,  one  and  a  half.     2.  Multiply  10,008  by  8009. 

Mr.  Riley  (principal  Central  Street  Grammar  School, 
Springfield),  who  conducted  the  examination  and  wrote 
the  pamphlet,  says  with  absolute  truth  that  the  above 
examples,  requiring  only  abstract  number  work,  are  of  the 
kind  in  which  the  "schools  of  our  fathers"  are  supposed 
to  have  given  that  incessant  drill  in  which  the  modem 
school  is  said  to  be  lacking ;  but  only  44  per  cent  of  the 
class  had  the  first  example  correct,  and  even  in  the  sec- 
ond, where  the  only  chance  for  a  mistake  was  in  the  actual 
multiplying,  37  per  cent,  or  more  than  one  third  of  the 
class,  were  wrong.  Again  in  the  fifth,  another  abstract 
example,  "What  is  one  third  of  175^  ?  "  for  which  the  drill 
method  should  have  prepared  the  pupils,  only  36  per  cent 
of  the  class  had  the  answer  correct.  The  answers  to  this 
example  varied  from  5^  to  6312. 

The  eighth  example  was :  "  What  is  the  simple  interest 
of  S1200  for  12  y.,  II  m.,  29  d.?''  There  are  twenty- 
seven  incorrect  answers  recorded,  varying  from  $93.28 
to  11038980000,  whatever  the  last  number  may  mean. 
The  comparison  of  the  papers  in  geography  and  pen- 
manship is  equally  to  the  credit  of  the  Springfield 
pupils  of  1905. 

It  must  be  clearly  borne  in  mind,  of  course,  that  my 
contention  at  the  present  time  is  not  that  our    arith- 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS    OF   SCHOOLS  II5 

metic  and  spelling  are  good  enough,  but  that  they  have 
not  suffered  by  the  "enrichment  of  the  course  of  study," 
to  use  the  recognized  form  of  description.  I  hope  to 
show  that  they  ought  to  have  gained  by  virtue  of  this 
very  enrichment.  It  is  only  too  true  that  these  essential 
studies  are  in  many  places  in  our  country  not  what  they 
should  be.  The  causes  are  very  interesting,  and  it  ought 
not  to  be  hard  to  remove  them.  But  the  treatment  is 
not  quite  so  simple  as  some  of  the  critics  of  the  public 
school  hastily  assume. 

Mr.  George  H.  Martin,  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
State  Board  of  Education,  writes  in  his  report  of  1905- 
1906:  "Many  people  imagine  a  golden  age  somewhere 
in  the  past  when  everybody  habitually  spelled  correctly." 
He  might  have  added,  a  critic  remarks,  "When  every- 
body ciphered  accurately  and  read  fluently." 

This  criticism  does  serious  harm  to  education  by 
alienating  pubHc  s>TTipathy,  and  in  some  places  even 
causing  the  withholding  of  proper  material  support  for 
the  schools. 

In  my  library  is  an  interesting  little  book,  which  bears 
the  rather  alarming  title,  "Artificial  Production  of 
Stupidity  in  Schools."  It  was  written  forty  years  ago  and 
appeared  in  England  in  the  Journal  of  Psychology. 
It  was  a  serious  attempt  to  explain  the  reasons  for 
the  failure  of  the  schools  to  develop  intelligence.  It 
claims  that  stupidity  is  a  universal  fact.  At  present  I 
desire  merely  to  refer  briefly  to  the  statements  in  the 
volume  as  to  the  condition  of  education  in  England  forty 


Il6  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

years  ago.    They  read  wonderfully  like  the  criticisms  of 
the  present  day. 

The  author  says  very  seriously,  but  with  an  ironical 
flavor,  "With  the  exception  of  being,  perhaps,  able  to 
read  with  labor,  and  to  write  with  difficulty,  the  pupils 
must  not  be  expected,  six  months  after  leaving  school,  to 
possess  any  trace  of  their  'education'  beyond  an  invig- 
orated sensorium  and  a  stunted  intelligence." 

The  writer  of  the  book  from  wliich  I  have  been  quotmg, 
quotes  her  Majesty's  Inspector,  Rev.  W.  J.  Kennedy,  as 
follows:  "I  think  there  is  truth  in  the  statement  that 
those  who  leave  our  national  schools  deteriorate  intellec- 
tually rather  than  improve." 

Again:  "Upon  testing  the  educational  customs  of  the 
present  day  by  even  the  most  elementary  principles  of 
psychology,  it  becomes  apparent  that  a  large  number  of 
children  receive  precisely  the  kind  of  training  that  has 
been  bestowed  upon  a  learned  pig."  He  subsequently 
explains  what  he  means  by  the  above  statement:  As 
educated  pigs  nod  their  heads,  or  stand  on  their  hind 
feet  in  response  to  certain  noises,  so  children  make  correct 
answers  without  comprehending  the  meaning  of  the 
answer  or  of  the  question.  As  an  illustration  he  quotes 
Rev.  Mr.  Brookfield,  another  Inspector.  Mr.  Brookfield 
states  in  his  official  report  for  1855-1856  that  he  called 
upon  two  children,  aged  about  11  years,  "who  did  their 
arithmetic  and  reading  tolerably  well,  who  wrote  some- 
thing pretty  legible,  intelligible,  and  sensible  about 
an  omnibus  and  a  steamboat,"  to  write  down  the  answers 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF   SCHOOLS  II7 

of  the  Church  catechism  to  two  questions.  It  must  be 
observed  that  they  had  been  accustomed  to  repeat  the 
Catechism  during  half  an  hour  of  each  day,  in  day  school 
and  in  Sunday  school,  for  four  or  five  years,  and  the  fol- 
lowing is  what  one  wrote  : 

"My  dooty  tords  my  Nabers  to  love  him  as  thyself 
and  to  do  to  all  men  as  I  wed  thou  shall  do  and  to  me  to 
love  onner  and  suke  my  farther  and  mother  to  onner  and 
to  bay  the  queen  and  all  that  are  pet  in  a  forty  under  her 
to  smit  myself  to  all  my  goones  teaches  sportial  pastures 
and  marsters  to  oughten  mysilf  lordly  and  every  to  all 
my  betters  to  hut  no  body  by  would  or  deed  to  be  trew 
in  jest  in  all  deelins  to  beer  no  malis  no  ated  in  your 
arts  to  keep  my  ands  from  pecking  and  steel  my  turn 
from  evil  speak  and  lawing  and  slanders  not  to  civet 
desar  othermans  good  but  to  lern  laber  trewly  to  get  my 
own  leaving  and  to  do  my  dooty  in  that  state  if  life 
and  to  each  it  his  please  god  to  call  men."  The  answer 
of  the  other  boy  is  similar  but  I  cannot  spare  the  space 
for  it. 

I  must  hmit  myself  to  one  more  group  of  testimony 
bearing  on  the  alleged  superiority  of  the  methods  of 
teaching  in  the  past.  This  time  I  choose  a  period 
slightly  nearer  to  our  own  than  in  the  preceding  two 
cases.  A  committee  of  the  Norfolk  County  Massa- 
chusetts Committees'  Association  was  appointed  at  the 
fall  meeting  in  1878,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 
children  throughout  the  county  who  had  been  four 
years,  and  those  who  had  been  eight  years,  in  school. 


Il8  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

Mr.  George  A.  Walton,  agent  of  the  Massachusetts 
State  Board  of  Education,  was  invited  by  the  committee 
to  act  for  them,  and  detailed  by  the  State  Board  for  the 
purpose.  He  prepared  for  the  test  with  the  greatest  care, 
and  presented  the  results  with  skill.  The  general  plan 
of  the  examination  was  approved  by  several  persons  of 
experience,  to  whom  it  was  referred  before  being  applied 
in  the  schools.  The  examinations  lasted  about  six 
months.  The  results  of  his  task  were  published  in 
1880  in  a  report  of  128  pages.  It  attracted  wide  atten- 
tion. 

The  number  of  pupils  in  the  primary  grade  examined 
was  2866;  in  the  grammar  grade,  2095;  total,  4961. 
The  ages  in  the  former  case  varied  from  8|  to  io|; 
in  the  latter,  from  i2|  to  15^.  The  number  of  towns 
examined  was  24. 

From  the  summary  of  percentages  I  present  the  follow- 
ing figures.  I  confine  myself  to  the  grammar  pupils. 
Considering  arithmetic,  the  average  per  cent  in  column 
addition  for  the  entire  county  was  65.7.  Ten  towns 
of  the  24  fell  below  60  per  cent.  The  example  demanded 
was  the  addition  in  column  of  eleven  items,  each  con- 
taining three  orders  of  units.  (Time  allowed  was  five 
minutes.)  There  is  not  a  good  modern  class  anywhere  of 
the  given  grade  but  would  be  ashamed  of  such  a  result, 
even  if  the  time  were  reduced  to  two  minutes. 

In  multiphcation  and  division  the  average  of  the  county 
was  68.8.  In  simple  interest  the  average  was  42.9  per 
cent.     Nineteen  towns  out  of  24  were  below  60  per  cent. 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS    OF    SCHOOLS  IIQ 

In  the  example,  the  principal  consisted  of  dollars  (four 
places),  the  time  from  August  20  to  December  5  of  the 
same  year,  the  rate  8  or  9  per  cent ;  the  interest  being 
required. 

The  percentages  in  written  expression,  penmanship, 
capitals,  and  punctuation  and  spelling  were  respectively 
64,  52,  49,  and  62.  In  written  expression  only  three  towns 
were  above  70  (a  low  passing  mark) ;  in  penmanship,  one; 
in  capitals  and  punctuation,  one ;  in  spelling,  five. 

So  much  for  figures.  The  observations  of  Mr.  Walton 
on  the  results  are  far  more  interesting.  He  speaks  in 
the  most  guarded  and  considerate  way,  but  it  is  evident 
that  he  believed  the  showing  as  a  whole  to  be  some- 
thing very  bad. 

Mr.  Walton's  statement  that  the  ability  to  express 
thoughts  upon  paper  is  an  important  practical  end  to 
be  aimed  at  in  the  schools,  is  a  very  modest  one ;  but 
throughout  the  test,  he  says  :  "Very  many  of  both  grades 
gave  evidence  that  they  had  never  been  taught  even 
the  mechanical  part  of  any  composition  exercise ;  their 
spelling  was  poor,  capitals  were  wholly  wanting,  and  no 
punctuation  was  attempted ;  there  was  no  idea  of  the 
arrangement  of  parts  of  the  letter  or  of  the  narrative. 
The  pupils  of  some  schools,  after  the  materials  were 
placed  in  their  hands  and  the  directions  were  given,  sat 
in  apparent  amazement,  as  if  the  most  unreasonable 
demand  had  been  made  upon  them.  To  some,  indeed, 
the  directions  were  at  first  incomprehensible  and  had 
to  be  many  times  repeated.    Again,  among  the  papers 


I20  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

taken  in  the  upper  grade,  there  are  many  in  which  the 
pupils  show  a  clear  appreciation  of  the  story,  and  good 
judgment  in  seizing  upon  and  arranging  the  important 
incidents  of  the  narrative ;  and  yet  the  style  is  poor, 
the  expressions  are  ungrammatical,  the  writing  is 
cramped,  and  all  that  relates,  to  the  mechanical  execu- 
tion shows  faulty  or  neglected  early  training." 

The  following,  taken  from  the  samples  of  work  pre- 
sented in  Mr.  Walton's  report,  may  illustrate  his  stric- 
tures.     There  are  many  such  given. 

"Cyphus  the  Prince  of  Persia  he  and  another  boy 
went  out  to  walk  he  had  a  long  coat  on  which  was  too 
big  for  him  the  other  boy  had  a  coat  which  was  to  small  for 
him  and  only  came  down  to  his  middle,  and  he  wanted 
the  little  boy  to  let  him  take  his  coat  (and  the  big  boy) 
woud  let  him  take  his  little  coat  so  Cyphus  father  came 
and  said  why  wood  you  not  let  him  take  the  big  coat 
and  he  wood  take  the  Httle  coat  so  he  went  home  and 
he  become  a  prince." 

The  spelling  of  three  selected  words  by  children 
from  8^  to  lo^  years  of  age  pans  out  thus:  "which," 
69;  "whose,"  54;  "scholar,"  44.8.  "Whose"  was 
spelled  in  108  ways,  "which"  in  54,  and  "scholar"  in  221. 

In  the  matter  of  reading,  the  report  states  that:  "In 
the  larger  number  of  primary  schools,  the  teachers  seem 
to  regard  the  expression  of  thought  as  not  within  the 
province  of  the  young  pupil ;  there  were  many  pupils  in 
both  grades,  but  particularly  in  the  primary,  who  called  off 
the  words  in  a  droning  and  monotonous  way,  or  shouted 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF    SCHOOLS  121 

them  out  one  after  the  other  with  as  httle  regard  to  the 
thought  as  if  they  had  been  the  columns  of  a  spelhng 
book."  Mr.  Walton  says:  ''So  far  as  I  could  discover, 
with  rare  exceptions,  little  attention  is  given  to  what  the 
children  read,  or  to  reading  for  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge, if  we  leave  out  of  account  the  text  of  books  com- 
mitted to  memory  for  recitation.  The  time  of  reading 
in  both  grades  seems  to  be  mostly  occupied  in  teaching 
to  call  the  word  properly,  without  reference  to  the  amount 
or  kind  of  knowledge  the  pupil  is  to  acquire." 

As  to  penmanship,  the  report  says:  "The  writing  in 
many  schools  is  limited  to  what  is  done  in  the  copybooks ; 
the  copy  at  the  top  of  the  page  is  written  again  and  again, 
sometimes  with  a  wider  departure  from  the  original  at 
each  repetition.  No  attention  is  given  to  the  movement 
of  the  hand  or  arm,  or  to  the  forms;  and  very  rarely, 
so  far  as  I  could  discover,  are  the  muscles  trained  to  make 
movements  with  rapidity.  This,  I  incline  to  think,  is  a 
universal  failure  in  the  schools." 

Finally,  as  to  arithmetic,  note  the  following  state- 
ment:  "To  one  who  has  not  been  used  to  seeing  simi- 
lar results  elsewhere,  the  failure  in  the  simple  operations 
is  perhaps  the  most  surprising  thing  in  the  examination. 
There  were  but  nine  items  given  for  addition  in  the 
primary,  and  but  eleven  in  the  grammar  grade,  with  a 
total  average  of  56  per  cent.  Why  should  not  80  or  90 
per  cent  of  all  the  answers  be  correct?" 

Mr.  Walton  indicates  that  the  state  of  things  in  Nor- 
folk County  was  a  general  state  of  things  elsewhere, 


122  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

and  not  in  the  least  surprising.  These  pupils  ought 
to  have  done  better,  but  he  would  have  been  surprised 
if  they  had.  Now  all  who  knew  Mr.  Walton  knew  that 
he  was  a  wise,  considerate  man,  with  advanced  ideals. 
His  discussions  in  the  report  I  am  considering  read  like 
prophecy.  They  embody  many  principles  which  modern 
pedagogy  has  since  adopted.  He  knew  his  ground,  and 
his  statement  is  worth  taking. 

As  to  the  amount  of  work  done  in  the  schools,  Mr. 
Walton  found  that  many  of  the  pupils  had  really  made 
Httle  advancement.  "  The  pupils  of  the  grammar  grades 
were  far  apart  in  respect  to  the  work  attempted,  some 
who  had  been  eight  years  in  school  having  advanced 
but  little  beyond  the  fundamental  operations,  while 
others  had  only  reached  fractional  numbers,  and  yet 
others  had  gone  through  the  arithmetic  required  for 
admission  to  the  high  school.  In  a  few  cases  the  tests 
for  the  primary  grade,  with  the  example  in  division  or 
with  a  simple  example  in  fractions,  were  submitted  to  the 
grammar  grade,  and  found  to  be  fully  up  to  their  attain- 
ments." 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  and  amusing  fact  in 
connection  with  this  report  is  that  it  alarmed  the  country 
at  large.  A  suspicion  haunted  most  superintendents 
that  if  their  work  had  been  thus  remorselessly  examined, 
it  would  have  come  out  little  better.  Unconsciously, 
they  felt  that  it  was  a  portrait  of  the  general  state  of 
education  at  the  time,  a  revelation  of  what  could  be 
found  anywhere  for  the  trying. 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF    SCHOOLS  1 23 

I  have  not  ventured  to  go  so  far  back  as  Horace  Mann. 
The  picture  he  draws  of  the  condition  of  things  in  1838 
is  very  dark.  His  picture  of  Massachusetts  education 
at  that  time  is  appalling. 

A  rejoinder  may  be  offered :  What  proof  have  we  that 
the  present  is  better  ?  That  is  a  fair  question,  but  it  is 
not  the  present  question,  which  is  this  :  Were  not  former 
days  better  ?  The  answer  is  emphatically :  No.  The 
system  of  to-day  is  immeasurably  ahead  of  the  school  sys- 
tem of  the  past.  The  growth  has  been  steady.  What- 
ever may  be  said  against  the  "enrichment"  of  the  course 
of  study,  its  "frills  and  fads,"  the  contention  that  the 
essentials,  so-called,  have  suffered  in  comparison  with  the 
past,  falls  flat.  It  does  not  follow  that  these  essentials 
are  taught  as  well  as  they  should  be  yet.  Perhaps 
they  should  have  advanced  more;  perhaps  they  would 
have  advanced  more  but  for  the  "frills  and  fads"  afore- 
said. This  is  an  open  question.  But  no  argument  to 
that  effect  can  be  based  on  the  superiority  of  the  schools 
of  the  past.     That  is  not  an  open  question. 

In  the  matter  of  the  "three  r's,"  granting  that  the  past 
has  no  superiority  over  the  present,  the  objector  who  still 
claims  that  the  essentials  are  not  properly  considered 
has  a  right  to  press  his  objection.  These  essentials 
may  indeed  be  better  taught  than  in  the  past;  but  are 
they  taught  well  enough  ?  And  specifically,  if  they  are 
not  taught  well  enough,  is  the  introduction  of  the  newer 
studies,  the  so-called  "frills,"  responsible? 

To  both  questions  the  answer  must  be  "No."     The 


124  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

essentials  are  not  taught  as  well  as  they  should  be,  but 
the  newer  studies  are  not  responsible  for  that  fact.  Let 
it  be  borne  in  mind  that  I  am  speaking  of  the  country 
as  a  whole. 

But  this  admission  regarding  the  teaching  of  the  essen- 
tials must  be  variously  construed.  For  in  some  places 
the  teaching  of  the  essentials  leaves  Httle  to  be  desired, 
while  in  others  the  subjects  are  taught  badly. 

At  the  outset  it  is  assumed  that  the  introduction  of 
the  "extras"  reduces  the  time  to  be  spent  on  the  regulars. 
This  is  only  partly  true.  Nature  study,  for  example,  is 
one  of  these  extras.  Let  us  say  that  fifteen  minutes  a 
day  is  given  to  this  study.  But  why  may  not  the  reading 
lesson  occasionally  be  about  nature  ?  And  again,  inas- 
much as  we  have  to  read  about  nature,  if  we  are  going  to 
study  it  very  much,  why  are  we  not,  in  so  doing,  improv- 
ing our  class  in  reading  ?  Reading  is  the  leader  of  the 
''three  r's."  Perfection  in  reading  is  purely  a  matter  of 
practice.  It  makes  no  difference  whether  the  child  reads 
from  a  reading  book  or  from  the  nature  study  book  or  a 
history,  as  long  as  he  reads  matter  within  his  comprehen- 
sion. There  is  no  particular  inspiration  enveloping  the 
reading  book. 

Or  his  nature  investigations  may  be  made  the  basis  of 
his  language  work  and  of  his  compositions.  He  must 
write  on  something,  and  the  teacher  must  guide  him  in 
securing  this  something.  Why  may  not  the  something 
be  found  in  nature  interests,  among  other  things  ? 

Such  correlations  are  entirely  possible,  and  they  are 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF    SCHOOLS  12$ 

numerous.  They  represent  a  great  saving  of  time  and 
they  are  very  modern.  And  they  represent  this  very 
important  principle  too  :  That  the  education  of  the  child 
requires  for  healthy  mental  growth  just  such  an  inter- 
locking of  subjects. 

But  again,  may  not  the  new  subjects  have  a  tonic 
effect  on  the  old  ?  Is  it  not  possible  to  think  of  the  work 
in  the  old  subjects  as  being  done  in  shorter  time  and  more 
effectively  by  reason  of  the  additions  to  the  course  of 
study  ?    Let  us  see. 

First :  The  spirit,  the  attitude  of  the  child  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Stating  it  simply,  a  child  who  wants 
to  know  will  learn  far  more  than  a  child  who  does  not  want 
to  know.  Indeed,  to  put  this  proposition  in  a  striking 
light,  if  the  teacher  could  secure  on  the  part  of  his  boys 
as  much  enthusiasm  in  arithmetic  as  they  show  in 
baseball,  he  would  accompHsh  wonders.  But  generally 
he  cannot.  His  deadliest  foe  in  the  classroom  is  apathy, 
lack  of  interest.  Now  one  of  the  facts  about  the  modern 
school  is  that  it  is  interesting.  It  ov/es  this  interest 
partly  to  a  better  comprehension  of  children,  and  conse- 
quently to  a  better  selection  of  methods,  but  partly 
also  to  the  fact  that  the  course  is  richer  and  appeals  to 
more  sides  of  the  child's  nature.  Because  school  is 
more  interesting,  because  it  touches  life  at  so  many 
points,  the  child  is  more  self-active,  and  less  forcing  is 
necessary.  In  these  days  more  than  ever  before  the 
child  wants  to  learn ;  and  this  applies  to  arithmetic  as 
well  as  to  anything  else. 


126  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Music  is  an  interesting  illustration  just  here,  and  easily 
enforces  the  foregoing  hne  of  thought.  For  music  is 
the  prince  of  frills.  It  is  charged  with  being  the  least 
practical  of  all  subjects.  Let  argument  on  that  assump- 
tion wait  for  awhile.  But  here  let  us  remember  this 
rather  important  fact.  Just  because  music  is  in  the 
schools,  school  is  a  happier  place.  Imagine  its  complete 
absence.  And  then  remember  that  everybody  works 
best  when  he  is  happiest. 

Second :  I  quote  my  friend,  Superintendent  Riley  of 
Holyoke,  who  wrote  "The  Springfield  Tests."  He  says, 
"Few  people,  except  educators,  have  considered  the 
possibility  of  improving  the  work  in  any  study  by 
decreasing  the  time  and  increasing  the  concentration  of 
the  child  and  the  skill  of  the  teacher.  Few  people  have 
endeavored  seriously  to  find  out  to  what  extent  such 
subjects  as  manual  training  and  drawing,  through 
correlation,  clinch  facts  in  arithmetic,  — or  how  far  spell- 
ing is  improved  by  broadening  the  child's  knowledge 
through  a  greater  variety  of  reading  matter  or  through 
such  a  branch  as  nature  study." 

I  offer  an  interesting  illustration.  At  the  Hyannis, 
Massachusetts,  Normal  School,  they  spend  not  a  little 
time  in  gardening,  in  raising  eggs,  and  in  building 
structures  made  necessary  by  these  and  other  industrial 
activities.  Now  here  is  a  serious  invasion  of  the  time 
sacred,  say,  to  arithmetic.  Not  so ;  arithmetic  is  cor- 
related throughout.  The  size  of  the  plots  affords 
opportunities   for   area   calculation.    The   mensuration 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF   SCHOOLS  1 27 

tables  come  in  in  the  lumber  work ;  calculations  of  all  sorts 
and  of  the  most  practical  kind  are  possible.  The  value  of 
lumber,  of  nails,  of  time  enters.  The  value  of  garden  prod- 
ucts, fertilizers,  etc.,  the  value  of  the  ground  itself,  these 
are  parts  of  the  arithmetic.  All  banking  business  made 
necessary  by  the  financial  transactions  supposed,  the  de- 
positing of  money,  the  drawing  of  checks,  etc.,  is  taught. 

Now  there  is  a  curious  fact  concerning  arithmetic  taught 
in  this  way.  It  sticks.  It  gives  arithmetical  power.  And 
it  is  equally  curious  that  the  examples  in  the  arithmetic 
have  no  such  sticking  quality.  At  any  rate,  it  takes  much 
more  time  and  effort  to  get  the  same  result  with  the 
arithmetic  textbook  than  it  does  with  the  lumber  pile. 

The  special  applications  of  the  improvement  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  work  done  in  the  schools  and  of  the  shorten- 
ing of  the  time  necessary  to  get  good  results  as  a  result 
of  correlation  meet  us  at  every  turn  in  the  school  course. 

Third :  There  is  a  rather  inviting  field  of  discussion 
relating  to  this  subject  that  is  very  little  understood.  Dr. 
Luther  Gulick  of  New  York  puts  the  basal  thought  in 
this  interesting  way.  He  says:  "If  I  exercise  my  right 
arm  vigorously  for  three  months,  and  do  not  exercise 
my  left  arm,  1  .  ill  find  at  the  end  of  that  time  that  my 
right  arm  has  greatly  increased  in  power.  But  I  will 
find  that  my  left  arm  has  also  increased  in  power ;  not 
so  much  as  the  right  arm,  but  some.  The  power  accumu- 
lating in  my  right  arm  overflows  to  my  left."  This  is  an 
illustration  of  a  universal  law.  If  I  exercise  any  faculty, 
I  not  only  gain  much  power  for  that  faculty,  but  I  gain 


128  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

some  power  for  other  faculties.  This  law,  the  late 
Frank  A.  Hills,  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Education, 
calls  "The  Law  of  the  Gracious  Overflow."  The  desig- 
nation is  as  felicitous  as  it  is  poetic. 

Now  to  be  specific.  Every  time  I  awaken  in  a  child 
a  real  enthusiasm  for  music,  for  example,  so  that  he  is 
willing  to  work  hard  over  it,  that  enthusiasm  overflows 
to  other  subjects,  or  rather  it  can  be  manipulated  so 
that  it  will  overflow.  If  I  develop  an  additional  en- 
thusiasm for  drawing,  for  history,  for  nature  study,  I 
have  similar  overflows.  The  other  studies  profit,  among 
them  the  "three  r's."  This  has  been  the  actual  course 
of  things.  Many  a  boy  has  been  aroused  from  his 
lethargy  by  awakened  interest  in  frogs  or  beetles  or  some 
fact  of  nature.  His  mind  has  awakened,  and  in  due 
time  the  balance  of  his  normal  interests  come  to  life. 
That  this  has  not  been  the  process  more  frequently 
is  because  teachers  do  not  know  the  principle.  When  a 
teacher  grasps  that  principle,  his  power  receives  a 
sudden  and  inspiring  accession. 

These  considerations  sum  up  the  matter.  Tlie  propo- 
sition is  this :  So  far  from  weakening  the  *^?iching  of  the 
old  essentials,  the  enrichment  of  the  course  of  study  must, 
within  certain  limitations,  bring  about  better  results 
than  would  be  possible  without  it.  And  this,  I  think,  has 
been  the  result. 

But  is  there  any  end  to  this  enrichment  ?  May  not  the 
process  of  introducing  new  material  be  continued  so  far 
that  the  course  becomes  overloaded,  becomes,  perhaps, 


POPULAR   CRITICISMS   OF    SCHOOLS  1 29 

impossible  ?  Alas,  yes.  And  the  state  of  things  assumed 
in  the  question  is  sometimes  a  reality.  But  is  that  not 
what  has  happened  to  all  good  things  ?  The  contention 
that  the  enrichment  of  the  course  of  study  necessarily 
impairs  the  basal  work  cannot  be  maintained.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  think  it  is  clear  from  the  foregoing  argu- 
ment that  a  reasonable  and  judicious  enrichment  must 
result  in  greatly  improved  work  in  the  fundamental 
studies.  In  other  words,  to  get  the  very  poorest  results 
possible  in  the  "three  r's,"  it  is  only  necessary  to  Hmit 
the  teaching  to  those  "r's." 

One  query  yet  remains  to  be  considered,  and  is  respect- 
fully offered  to  such  parties  as  beheve,  in  spite  of  what 
we  have  submitted,  that  the  new  subjects  do  overload 
the  course.  The  query  is  this :  What  about  the  over- 
loading under  the  older  and  more  restricted  courses  of 
study?  What  about  the  greatest  common  divisor  and 
the  least  common  multiple,  which  everybody  has  studied, 
but  which  no  human  being  ever  uses  or  ever  did  use? 
What  about  allegation  medial,  complex  fractions,  duo-deci- 
mals, and  a  vast  number  of  operations  useful  enough  to  a 
few,  but  of  no  possible  value  to  most  people.  Real  arith- 
metical power  was  not  developed  by  teaching  such  sub- 
jects, so  much  time  may  be  saved  by  omitting  them.  If 
real  arithmetical  power  is  developed,  the  individual  easily 
learns  the  special  arithmetic  that  is  necessary  in  his  partic- 
ular business,  so  that  other  departments  of  arithmetic,  such 
as  partnership,  partial  payments,  etc.,  may  be  omitted  in 
school  and  more  time  may  be  saved  for  the  new  subjects. 


CHAPTER  X 

Music,  Literature,  and  Drawing  as  Elements 
OF  Character 

The  last  word  has  not  been  said  even  if  we  have  been 
successful  in  proving  that  the  so-called  "frills  "  of  public 
school  instruction  are  not  responsible  for  the  shortcomings 
of  the  so-called  essentials,  or  even  if  we  could  prove  that 
the  "frills"  are  responsible  for  the  improvement  of 
the  essentials.  There  yet  remains  one  proposition  to 
be  demonstrated,  a  proposition  of  the  greatest  moment. 

The  proposition  is  this :  The  newer  subjects  of  the 
school  course  are  of  great  importance  in  themselves ;  they 
are  also  "essential"  subjects  if  any  subjects  are  to  be 
dignified  with  this  term.  Indeed,  from  some  points  of 
view  they  are  more  essential  than  some  phases  of  the 
orthodox  essentials. 

Let  us  look  for  awhile  at  the  most  obviously  ornamental 
and  therefore,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  the  least  practical 
of  the  "fancy"  additions  to  the  course  of  study.  I  am 
speaking  of  music.  The  defense  of  this  subject  will  imply 
the  defense  of  a  number  of  "unpractical"  subjects. 

Now  music  may  be  defended  in  various  ways.  It 
increases  the  happiness  of  school  life.  Its  scientific 
phases  involve  a  mental  discipline  not  unlike  that  given 
by  mathematics.     The  rapid  reading  of  music  requires 

130 


MUSIC,    LITERATURE,    AND   DRAWING  13I 

alertness,  nice  estimates  of  pitch  and  rhythm,  quick 
decision.  These  are  excellent  qualities  to  go  into  the 
make-up  of  a  child's  character.  Music  is  harmonizing, 
refining.  Finally,  music  leads  to  several  modes  of  mak- 
ing a  living. 

But  these  apologies  for  music  do  not  touch  the  fun- 
damental explanation  of  its  place  as  an  integral  element 
of  a  school  curriculum  at  public  expense.  This  reason 
relates  to  the  very  foundations  of  the  social  and  moral 
life,  and  therefore  to  the  existence  of  society  itself. 

It  is  usually  and  hastily  taken  for  granted  that  the 
exclusive  business  of  public  education  is  to  train  the 
child  to  make  a  living.  But  is  this  so  ?  What  about 
the  hours  of  leisure  ?  Has  education  anything  to  do  with 
them  ?  For  the  hours  of  leisure  are  the  hours  of  temp- 
tation. In  business,  business  necessity  surrounds  the 
employee  with  restrictions  that  measurably  safeguard 
his  honesty.  But  when  five  o'clock  comes,  when  he  lays 
down  his  pen  or  takes  off  his  apron,  when  he  becomes 
his  own  master,  when  he  has  the  absolute  power  to  do 
right  or  wrong  as  he  pleases,  then  temptations  come  in 
as  a  flood. 

He  goes  to  his  home  or  his  boarding  place,  and  de- 
cides on  the  pleasures  of  the  evening.  Now  comes  the 
important  question.  What  preparation  has  been  made  in 
his  school  days  for  these  hours  of  pleasure  ?  His  parents 
and  the  church  have  given  him  counsel,  but  that  is  not 
enough.  Who  has  prepared  him  to  prefer  high  pleasures 
to  low?     Who  has  prepared  him  to  understand  high 


132  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

pleasures?  Specifically,  what  kind  of  music  shall  he 
seek  this  evening?  For  music  of  some  kind  is  offered 
on  all  hands.  Questionable  places  offer  music ;  places  of 
unspeakable  vice  offer  music;  the  church  offers  music; 
refined  homes  offer  music ;  the  oratorio,  the  symphony, 
the  opera  offer  music.  It  is  too  late  to  make  preparation 
r  now.  As  far  as  music  is  concerned,  he  will  go  where  he 
'  can  find  what  he  can  understand.  If  he  seek  the  low,  the 
pleasures  that  go  with  it  will  be  low,  the  associates  will 
be  low. 

Thus  music  vaults  into  a  high  position  as  the  arbiter 
of  his  pleasures.  It  becomes  a  moral  force  of  great 
power.  It  ought  not  to  require  argument  to  show  that 
the  pleasures  of  a  people  are  an  index  of  their  character. 
We  recall  the  famous  saying,  "If  I  can  write  the  songs 
of  a  nation,  I  care  not  who  makes  their  laws."  That 
is  a  profoundly  philosophical  statement.  Music  controls 
emotion,  and  emotion  controls  action.  One  of  the  recent 
doctrines  of  practical  psychology  is  the  dommance  of 
the  emotions.  And  in  education  that  truth  means  just 
this  :  It  is  idle  to  train  the  intellect  and  to  leave  the  emo- 
tions fallow;  if  you  fail  to  train  the  emotions,  the  emo- 
tional nature  does  not  die ;  it  simply  takes  on  another 
character.  And  the  character  and  intensity  of  our  emo- 
tional nature  control  our  living. 

Of  course,  it  is  not  claimed  that  music  will  save  the 
boy.  But  it  gives  him  one  more  chance.  He  will  not 
seek  the  chamber  concert  or  the  oratorio  or  the  singing 
social  in  a  home  of  high  refinement  if  he  cannot  under- 


MUSIC,   LITERATURE,    AND   DRAWING  I33 

stand  that  music.  It  Is  true  that  he  may  not  seek  such 
music  even  if  he  can  understand  it,  but  his  tendency  will 
be  to  seek  it.  Of  course  many  other  elements  of  his  early 
preparation  as  well  as  his  later  acquisitions  and  his  pres- 
ent environment  determine  his  choice  of  pleasures.  But 
so  far  as  music  is  an  element  in  the  choice  it  is  almost 
certain  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  boy's  musical 
character,  so  to  speak,  —  a  character  that  has  already 
been  formed. 

Now  what  is  true  of  music  is  true  of  Hterature.  Some 
one  has  said,  "It  is  of  doubtful  advantage  to  teach  a  boy 
to  read  and  not  to  teach  him  what  to  read."  The  press 
constantly  traces  crime  back  to  habits  of  reading,  to 
the  "penny  dreadful."  Our  own  experience  justifies  the 
inference.  But  if  reading  may  lead  down,  why  not  up  ? 
Why  may  not  a  careful  training  in  the  wise  selection 
of  books  and  toward  the  love  of  good  books  result  in 
definite  preference  for  the  pure,  the  worthy,  the  help- 
ful, the  ennobhng  in  literature  ?  And  if  this  taste  keeps 
a  young  man  in  the  house  to  read  "  Ivanhoe  "  rather  than 
to  go  to  a  low  musical  comedy,  it  has  helped  in  his 
salvation. 

Drawing  may  be  thought  of  also  in  the  same  way.  It 
is  true  that  drawing  is  to  be  defended  also  on  other 
grounds.  But  its  influence  in  training  the  artistic 
nature  is  essentially  moral,  for  it  tends  to  control  the 
individual's  pleasures.  I  have  no  time  to  answer  the 
contention  that  high  art  may  be  impure.  Ruskin 
has  answered  that.     It  is  as  clear  as  noonday  that  the 


134  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

tendency  at  least  of  high  art  is  away  from  the  sordid, 
the  commonplace,  the  degrading.  It  is  away  from  the 
coarse,  comic  post  card,  away  from  the  tawdry  ornament, 
and  toward  the  upper  world,  the  world  of  beauty  where 
one  may  associate  with  those  who  believe  with  Plato  that 
"Beauty  is  the  splendor  of  truth."  For,  says  Sidney 
Lanier,  "Not  only  is  there  a  'beauty  of  holiness,'  but 
there  is  also  a  holiness  of  beauty." 

But  time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  nature  study,  of 
history,  and  geography,  and  physical  culture.  In  each 
of  these  there  is  an  additional  reason  for  its  presence  in  the 
school  course,  but  there  is  also,  and  ranking  very  high  as 
a  reason,  the  fact  that  these  studies  have  to  do  with  the 
pleasures  of  life,  therefore  with  its  temptations. 

Picture  an  extreme  case :  a  boy  who  does  not  love  music 
or  art  or  Hterature  or  poetry,  or  little  children,  who  are 
part  of  the  poetry  of  life.  Consider  that  all  the  avenues 
to  his  higher  nature  are  closed  up.  Whence  must  his 
pleasures  come?  Through  the  avenues  of  sense;  and 
therefore  they  must  be  the  pleasures  of  sense.  Is  that  a 
hopeful  moral  outlook  ?  But  the  extreme  case  illustrates 
the  law  that  in  so  far  as  the  avenues  to  the  higher  Ufe  are 
closed  up,  those  of  sense  must  take  their  place.  There 
come  to  us  the  lines  from  Young's  "Night  Thoughts," 
a  picture  of  materialism. 

"Sense,  take  the  rein, 
Blind  Passion,  drive  us  on, 
And  Ignorance  befriend  us  on  our  way. 
Ye  last  but  truest  patrons  of  our  race. 


MUSIC,    LITERATURE,    AND    DRAWING  135 

So  live  the  brute,  since  like  the  brute  we  die. 
The  sum  of  man,  of  Godlike  man, 
To  revel  and  to  rot." 

"A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  that  he  possesseth."  There  is  something  of  im- 
portance in  this  world  besides  making  a  living.  It  is 
Hving  a  life.  And  all  history  emphasizes  the  proposition 
that  a  people's  vitahty  has  a  direct  relation  to  the 
character  of  its  pleasures.  We  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to 
this  great  sociological  truth.  If  we  do  not  prepare  our 
children  to  choose  their  pleasures  rightly,  we  shall  repeat 
in  our  own  history  the  awful,  unspeakable  social  story, 
and  the  inglorious  end  of  Rome  and  of  Antioch  of  Syria. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Arithmetic 

It  is  time  to  drop  that  word  "essentials,"  as  referring 
to  any  subject  in  the  school  curriculum.  The  term  is  an 
assumption,  and  I  have  temporarily  conceded  the  assump- 
tion merely  to  put  certain  truths  in  plain  hght.  The 
idea  of  essentials  and  non-essentials  is  a  fiction,  and  it 
is  time  to  consider  this  fiction  from  the  standpoint  of 
everyday,  workaday  life. 

Just  for  a  moment,  let  us  remember  that  even  in  think- 
ing of  the  workaday  Ufe,  in  the  preparation  of  the  boy 
or  girl  to  take  his  part  in  its  serious  affairs,  we  cannot 
ignore  the  moral.  For  if  it  were  possible  to  thoroughly 
evoke  the  moral  nature,  if  we  could  make  our  boys  true 
to  duty,  to  their  own  responsibihty,  to  their  parents,  to 
their  neighbors,  to  themselves,  the  hardest  tasks  of  the 
teacher  would  disappear.  Teaching  is  difficult  not 
merely  because  children  cannot  learn,  but  also  because 
they  do  not  desire  to  learn. 

But,  approaching  the  question  of  education  fairly  from 
the  utilitarian  side,  let  us  ask  a  question.  Why  do  we 
educate  a  boy  at  all  ?  The  answer  is  simple  :  we  educate 
him  that  he  may  accomplish  his  destiny  in  the  world ; 
that  he  may  do  all  for  which  his  endowment  fits  him. 
But  this  is  not  the  same  thing  as  saying  that  we  educate 

136 


ARITHMETIC  137 

him  In  order  that  he  may  be  filled  with  facts.  For  many 
facts  may  be  of  no  possible  use  to  him,  however  much 
they  may  be  of  use  to  others;  other  facts,  moreover, 
are  difficult  for  him  now,  but  will  be  easy,  in  a  year,  or  two, 
or  three.  Some  facts,  again,  are  of  no  use  to  anybody. 
Certain  facts  he  must  have,  but  even  these  are  of  little 
value  unless  they  enter  into  and  become  a  part  of  his 
life.  Facts  are  like  food:  it  is  not  the  quantity,  but 
the  assimilation,  that  counts.  And  in  school,  it  is  not  the 
study,  but  its  reaction  upon  the  individual,  that  is  of  su- 
preme importance.  Let  us  make  this  proposition  clear  by 
applying  it  to  some  of  the  subjects  in  the  course  of  study. 
To  grasp  it  means  a  revolution  in  our  views  of  education. 

Let  us  begin  with  that  venerable  and  halo-encircled 
"r,"  arithmetic.  The  application  of  the  above  proposi- 
tion to  this  subject  means  this :  It  is  not  a  matter 
of  importance  how  much  arithmetic  a  boy  learns,  but 
what  sort  of  an  arithmetician  he  becomes.  So  far  as 
that  subject  is  concerned,  what  he  wants  is  just  enough 
to  enable  him  to  do  his  work  in  life  at  his  best.  This 
includes  two  things :  first,  skill  in  the  processes  he  is  called 
upon  to  use,  and  second,  arithmetical  sagacity,  power  to 
understand  or  to  learn  what  he  does  not  know  now  and 
may  be  called  upon  to  know  in  the  future. 

Now  the  number  of  arithmetical  processes  that  most 
people  are  called  on  to  perform  in  actual  life  is  small. 
It  includes  the  fundamental  rules,  a  little  simple  work 
in  fractions,  a  good  acquaintance  with  decimals,  interest 
with  bank  discount  and  simple  percentage  (not  the  myriad 


138  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

so-called  "cases"  of  the  latter).  In  the  case  of  a  large 
number  of  people  a  much  smaller  capital  sufl&ces.  But 
absolute  comprehension,  accuracy,  and  rapidity  are  needed 
within  these  limits.  Imagine  a  boy  who  is  trained  in 
arithmetic  to  this  extent,  trained  to  be  alert,  rapid,  and 
sure,  and  who  in  his  general  education  outside  of  arith- 
metic, is  trained  also  to  clear  thinking,  to  the  best  use  of 
all  the  brains  he  has.  Picture  such  a  boy  in  actual  busi- 
ness called  upon  to  master  partial  payments,  which  he 
has  never  studied.  What  will  happen  ?  He  will  master 
it  in  fifteen  minutes. 

But  the  multipHcation  of  subjects  in  arithmetic  may 
prevent  this  outcome  by  so  loading  up  the  pupil  and  the 
teacher  that  skill  and  rapidity  are  hnpossible.  And  this  is 
what  is  actually  happening  throughout  this  broad  land. 
The  arithmetic  has  been  cut  in  comparison  with  what  was 
required  in  the  days  of  old,  but  we  still  fondly  hold  to 
many  traditional  subjects.    I  submit  but  two  illustrations : 

The  teachers  of  former  years  taught  and  the  teachers 
of  to-day  teach  a  subject  in  fractions  known  as  the  least 
common  multiple.  It  takes  time  to  teach  it,  it  takes  time 
to  drill  it,  it  takes  time  to  come  back  to  it  and  teach  it 
and  drill  it  all  over  again,  and  then  —  it  goes  into  limbo. 
No  human  being  uses  it  (in  arithmetic) . 

"To  find  the  principal  when  the  rate,  interest,  and  time 
are  given."  That  is  a  "case"  of  interest.  I  doubt  if 
any  one  who  reads  this  article  has  used  it  twice  in  his 
life  unless  he  is  a  specialist.  But  there  are  three  other 
"cases"  in  interest  and  three  in  plam  percentage,  not  to 


ARITHMETIC  139 

speak  of  the  applications  of  percentage  to  profit  and  loss, 
commission,  etc.  Now  let  us  freely  acknowledge  that 
there  are  people  who  must  use  some  of  these  processes. 
But  there  are  also  people  who  must  know  how  to  find 
the  area  of  a  circle,  the  volume  of  a  sphere,  the  frustum  of 
a  cone,  the  buoyancy  of  a  ship,  the  present  value  of  a  hfe 
insurance  poHcy,  etc.  It  is  clear,  that  either  these  things 
must  be  taught  somewhere  or  else  enough  skill  and  intelli- 
gence must  be  imparted  to  enable  the  student  to  master 
these  himself  when  he  needs  them.  Both  courses  must 
be  pursued;  but  the  special  training  should  be  confined 
to  those  who  are  more  likely  to  need  it. 

It  is  clear  also  that,  for  the  ordinary  pupil  in  the  pub- 
he  schools,  the  multipHcation  of  subjects  in  arithmetic 
means  decreased  power  through  lack  of  adequate  drill. 
Narrow  the  range  of  the  teaching,  and  greater  power  is 
possible.  Any  one  really  familiar  with  the  schools  of  the 
United  States  knows  that  the  characteristics  of  the  pupils 
are  these:  dawdhng,  inaccuracy,  and  lack  of  ordinary 
common  sense  in  dealing  with  new  problems.  We  are 
better  than  we  used  to  be,  but  we  are  poorer  than  we 
ought  to  be.  The  trouble  is  not  in  the  intrusion  of  the 
newer  subjects,  but  in  the  overloading  of  the  old. 

Let  me  return  to  my  basal  proposition.  What  we  want 
is  not  arithmetic,  but  arithmetical  power.  We  want  to 
confine  the  subject  to  its  province.  I  beHeve  that  the 
work  in  our  grammar  schools  and  high  schools  must  from 
a  certain  point  divide  into  courses ;  college,  business, 
industrial  courses,  etc.,  wliich  will  enable  the  student  to 


14©  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

prepare  to  do  the  thing  for  which  he  feels  fitted.  Under 
such  conditions  arithmetic  must  be  specialized  as  well  as 
geography,  drawing,  and  other  subjects.  What  I  am  try- 
ing to  show  now  is  that  for  the  given  student  the  question 
is  one  not  of  amount,  but  of  power,  and  power  impHes 
assimilation. 

I  am  trying  to  show  also  that  arithmetic  loses  its  place 
as  an  essential  subject.  It  is  not  essential  at  all,  except 
in  a  limited  sense,  as  to  a  limited  area;  and  its  essentiality 
varies  with  the  individual.  Drawing  may  be  far  more 
essential  than  arithmetic  to  many  a  pupil.  Indeed,  the 
vaunted  importance  of  an  extensive,  comprehensive  course 
in  arithmetic  is  responsible  for  many  of  the  misfits  in  the 
world.  We  must  all  have  some  arithmetic,  but  to  make 
a  child  study  equation  of  pajTnent  when  his  divine  en- 
dowment says  he  should  be  studying  birds  is  a  crime 
against  the  child. 

Is  it  not  time  that  the  child  should  be  recognized  as 
an  individual?  Is  he  not  one  of  a  kind?  Did  God  in 
creating  him  intend  him  to  do  certain  things  in  the 
world?  What  things?  That  is  the  solemn  question 
the  teacher  must  answer.  He  may  not  be  able  to 
answer  it  very  wisely,  but  it  is  madness  to  ignore  it; 
it  is  blasphemy  to  substitute  his  opinion  for  the  divine 
opinion.  And  this  is  what  we  do,  when  we  tumble  fifty 
children  into  the  arithmetical  hopper  and  say  that  they 
must  all  come  out  at  the  bottom  so  much  arithmetical  grist 
of  a  uniform  variety.  No  subject  ever  can  be  essential 
in  such  a  sense  as  that. 


ARITHMETIC  14I 

Is  there  not  a  haunting  feeling  of  something  funda- 
mentally wrong  in  our  thinking  as  we  reflect  on  such 
considerations  as  these  ?  Do  we  not  seem  to  be  face  to 
face  with  a  great  parting  of  ways?  Is  not  the  funda- 
mental consideration  the  child,  his  personality  ?  Is  not 
all  else  to  be  considered  in  view  of  its  reaction  on  this 
divine  entity?  The  opposing  view  holds.  There  are 
subjects  to  be  taught.  The  child  is  a  convenient  thing 
to  teach  them  to.  You  cannot  teach  geography  without 
children.  Therefore  we  must  have  children  in  the 
schools;  but  the  geography  is  the  important  fact,  and  the 
child  must  accommodate  himself  to  it.  Here  is  arith- 
metic for  the  child;  bring  forth  the  child,  —  as  if  we 
should  say:  here  is  the  lemon  squeezer;  bring  forth  the 
lemon.  Included  between  these  two  extreme  views  range 
the  teachers  of  the  country,  the  mass  practically  adher- 
ing to  the  latter  view.  Once  more,  let  us  search  our 
practice.  Let  us  bow  to  the  Froebelian  law  of  self-rev- 
elation. Let  us  make  the  child  the  starting  point  for 
our  courses  of  study  and  our  methods.  When  we  do 
that,  our  schools  will  be  revolutionized  and  the  divine 
intention  will  be  incarnated  in  our  children. 


CHAPTER  XII 
Geography 

In  the  last  chapter  I  endeavored  by  the  aid  of  arith- 
metic to  make  clear  this  proposition  :  That  there  are  no 
"essential"  studies,  that  every  study  is  essential  or  not 
essential  to  the  extent  that  it  meets  the  child's  needs 
in  Hfe.  Stating  the  proposition  in  another  and  a  very  in- 
teresting way,  the  education  of  a  child  is  a  question  in 
the  solution  of  which  the  child  comes  first  and  the  subject 
and  books  second.  This  statement  not  only  changes  the 
selection  and  treatment  of  subjects,  but  it  revolutionizes 
the  whole  ideal  of  the  school.  It  Hes  at  the  basis,  for 
example,  of  industrial  education.  It  is  destined  to 
produce  a  most  radical  and  far-reaching  change  in  the 
organization  of  the  schools  of  our  country. 

Among  the  subjects  that  illustrate  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  former  and  the  newer  thought  in  this  con- 
nection the  most  interesting  and  striking  is  geography. 
This  subject,  while  not  honored  with  a  place  among  the 
"three  r's, "  is,  nevertheless,  considered  by  everyone  a 
very  useful  branch  of  study.  If  not  "essential,"  it  is 
"near-"  essential.     But  how  and  in  what  way? 

Note,  that  it  has  been  a  favorite  branch  of  study  with 
only  a  few  people.  Most  children  in  the  past  disliked  it 
or  had  a  most  feeble  interest  in  it.     But,  as  I  have  tried  to 

142 


GEOGRAPHY  I43 

show  in  a  previous  chapter,  without  interest,  we  get  very 
small  results  with  children.  Education  is  a  matter  of 
self-activity.  I  think  that  the  memories  of  geography  in 
the  case  of  most  of  us  are  confined  to  the  game  of  Find- 
ings, generally  played  surreptitiously.  It  has  left 
few  traces  on  the  student's  mind:  a  limited  knowl- 
edge of  countries,  cities,  rivers,  etc.  (with  some,  a  very 
limited  knowledge),  a  much  more  trifling  knowledge 
of  customs,  an  inappreciable  knowledge  of  trade,  and 
little  desire  for  more  knowledge  of  any  of  these  things. 
But  we  spent  a  prodigious  amount  of  time  upon  it.  Now 
here  is  a  great  expenditure  to  secure  a  very  little  result. 
That  looks  like  a  serious  waste  of  time  and  money.  Of 
course,  I  do  not  claim  that  nothing  came  of  it,  but  that 
only  a  Uttle  came  of  it;  that  little  was  obtained  at  great 
cost,  and  the  most  valuable  result,  a  love  of  the  subject, 
was  practically  lost. 

What  was  the  purpose  of  geography  in  the  earher  days  ? 
It  was  merely  to  get  facts.  Therefore,  the  books  were 
crammed  with  them.  We  committed  to  memory  —  or  we 
were  expected  to  do  so  —  the  location  of  many  cities,  the 
windings  of  many  rivers,  the  location  of  many  a  bleak 
cape,  the*  boundaries  of  a  vast  number  of  countries  and 
states,  and  productions  of  amazing  number,  variety,  and 
distribution.  Most  of  these  have  been  forgotten.  Here 
and  there  a  fact  remains  in  our  memories,  but  most  of 
us  have  learned  more  geography  from  the  newspaper 
and  from  general  reading  and  travel  than  we  ever  learned 
in  school. 


144  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

No  other  subject  has  been  taught  more  poorly  than 
geography.  The  chief  cause  of  the  poor  teaching  has 
been  the  failure  to  grasp  the  true  reasons  for  teaching 
the  subject  at  all.  This  really  important  subject  has 
generally  been  regarded  as  a  means  of  giving  children 
conceptions  of  the  relationship  of  land  masses  to  the 
great  bodies  of  water,  and  the  names  of  the  leading  parts 
of  land  formations  and  of  different  bodies  of  water 
throughout  the  world,  with,  in  later  years,  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  political  divisions  of  the  world,  and  of  facts 
relating  to  population,  productions,  etc. 

There  are  only  three  reasons  that  can  justify  the 
teaching  of  any  subject  in  school :  the  development 
of  power,  the  culture  of  the  mind,  or  the  storing  of  the 
mind  with  knowledge  that  will  be  of  use  in  practical  Hfe. 
The  teaching  of  geography  in  the  past  has  had  Httle 
influence  on  either  of  these  departments  of  training  or 
culture.  Educationally  the  processes  of  teaching  geog- 
raphy have  trained  the  memory  sHghtly  and  by  the  worst 
possible  processes  for  memory  training,  —  the  committing 
to  memory  of  unrelated  facts.  Practically  there  was 
very  little  real  value  in  the  facts  after  they  had  been 
learned. 

Mrs.  Browning  ridicules  the  aim  of  geographical 
teaching  in  her  description  of  the  teaching  given  to 
Aurora  Leigh.  Aurora,  in  describing  her  education, 
criticizes  the  old  method  of  teaching  geography,  when 
she  says : 


GEOGRAPHY  I 45 

"I  learned  the  internal  laws 
Of  the  Burmese  empire,  —  by  how  many  feet 
Mount  Chimborazo  outsoars  Teneriffe, 
What  navigable  river  joins  itself 
To  Lana,  and  what  census  of  the  year  five 
Was  taken  at  Klagenfurt." 

Geography  should  make  the  child  acquainted  with  the 
earth  as  the  home  of  man,  and  should  give  him  definite 
knowledge  regarding  the  various  causes  that  influence  the 
conditions  of  life  in  the  different  parts  of  the  world.  It  is 
a  degradation  of  this  ideal  to  make  the  study  of  geography 
consist  mainly  of  the  memorization  of  the  names  of 
places,  and  of  facts  relating  to  statistics  of  population, 
etc.,  which  change  with  each  census.  Such  teaching 
robs  geography  of  every  vital  element  of  interest  and 
value.  If  geography  really  meant  nothing  more  than 
this,  there  could  be  little  justification  for  giving  it  a  place 
on  the  school  program. 

The  real  study  of  geography  trains  the  child  to 
investigate  the  conditions  of  Hfe,  and  the  causes  that 
produce  varying  conditions  in  different  places.  It 
enables  him  to  understand  why  certain  parts  of  the  earth 
are  deserts  and  other  parts  fertile,  and  leads  him  to  see 
clearly  why  some  districts  are  teeming  with  a  vast 
population  while  other  districts  are  not  inhabited,  or  are 
occupied  by  a  very  small  number  of  people.  It  makes 
him  famihar  with  the  development  of  plant  and  animal 
hfe,  and  their  relationship  to  human  life.  It  treats  of 
soil  and  its  formation,  of  rainfall  as  essential  in  promoting 


146  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

growth,  of  winds  as  influencing  rainfall,  of  mountains  in 
deciding  the  direction  of  winds,  of  the  causes  that  lead  to 
varying  conditions  of  climate,  of  the  results  of  the  motions 
of  the  earth,  of  the  great  ocean  currents,  of  the  wonder- 
ful work  of  rivers,  of  the  various  divisions  of  the  human 
family  and  their  special  characteristics  and  powers,  and 
of  other  phenomena  affecting  the  earth  as  man's  home. 

A  boy  should  not  merely  know  that  there  is  a  vast 
desert  in  the  northern  part  of  Africa;  he  should  be  taught 
why  so  large  a  part  of  that  continent  is  a  desert.  He 
should  not  be  taught  the  mere  facts  that  there  are  great 
salt  lakes  in  the  western  part  of  Asia,  in  the  western 
part  of  North  America,  and  in  the  interior  of  Australia ; 
he  should  learn  why  these  lakes  are  salt,  why  in  the 
nature  of  things  they  must  be  salt  —  because  they  have 
no  outlet. 

Geography  should  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
most  educative  subjects  on  the  school  program,  be- 
cause of  the  variety  of  its  departments  and  their  direct 
relationship  to  human  Hfe,  and  of  the  fine  opportunities 
it  affords  for  training  the  reasoning  powers  by  dealing 
with  the  real  problems  of  everyday  experience. 

Why  do  we  have  day  and  night?  Why  do  the  days 
and  nights  change  in  length  ?  Why  do  we  have  different 
seasons  ?  Why  is  it  warm  in  summer  and  cold  in  winter  ? 
Why  is  it  colder  on  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America 
than  on  the  western  coast  ?  What  causes  winds  to  blow 
on  some  days  and  not  on  others?  Why  do  not  our 
winds  blow  always  from  the  same  direction  ?    Where  does 


GEOGRAPHY  I47 

the  dew  come  from  ?  Why  does  it  come  in  the  night 
and  not  in  the  day  ?  Why  does  it  not  rain  every  day  ? 
Why  does  it  rain  at  all  ?  Why  do  we  not  have  good 
moonlight  every  night?  Why  is  the  moon  not  always 
round?  'Why  do  rivers  flow  where  they  do  and  not 
in  other  places  ?  Why  are  cities  situated  where  they  are 
and  not  in  other  places?  Why  are  mountains  found 
where  they  are  ?  Why  are  some  mountains  volcanoes  ? 
Why  does  the  sun  rise  in  the  east?  Why  does  the  sun 
set  in  the  west?  Why  does  the  sun  not  always  rise  at 
the  same  time  and  set  at  the  same  time  ?  Why  does  the 
sun  not  always  rise  in  the  same  direction  and  set  in  the 
same  direction  from  your  house  ?  Why  do  we  not  see  the 
same  stars  every  night  ?  Why  does  time  change  as  we 
travel  east  or  west  ?  Why  does  it  grow  colder  as  we  chmb 
higher  on  a  mountain  ?  Why  does  it  grow  colder  as  we 
go  farther  away  from  the  equator?  Why  does  the  sun 
not  shine  straight  over  the  heads  of  people  outside  of 
the  torrid  zone  ?  Why  are  the  days  and  nights  the  same 
length  about  the  21st  of  March,  and  the  21st  of  Sep- 
tember? Why  are  our  nights  longer  after  September, 
and  our  days  longer  after  March  ?  When  are  our  nights 
longest,  and  why  ?  When  are  our  days  longest,  and  why  ? 
Why  do  our  days  get  shorter  after  June  ?  Why  do  our 
nights  get  shorter  after  December?  Why  does  the 
North  Star  go  lower  in  the  sky  as  we  travel  toward  the 
equator?  Why  do  we  have  eclipses  of  the  sun?  Of 
the  moon  ?  What  is  the  shape  of  the  shadow  of  the 
earth  as  it  is  seen  crossing  the  moon  ?    Why  do  we  not 


148  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

have  two  eclipses  each  month,  one  of  the  sun  and  one  of 
the  moon  ?  Why  can  we  not  see  farther  on  a  flat  country  ? 
Why  can  we  not  see  farther  on  the  ocean  ?  Why  do  we 
see  the  top  of  a  vessel  when  she  is  coming  toward  us 
before  we  see  the  hull  ? 

These  and  many  similar  problems  may  be  made  deeply 
interesting  to  all  children.  Indeed,  when  properly 
planned  and  properly  taught,  there  is  no  other  subject 
so  universally  interesting  as  geography,  because  its 
problems  are  of  universal  meaning  in  the  lives  of  all 
children.  The  solution  of  these  problems  gives  the 
teacher  his  greatest  opportunity  to  develop  the  reasoning 
powers  of  his  children,  because  the  problems  are  real 
problems,  that  they  may  perceive  and  conceive  clearly. 
Such  problems  form  the  best  possible  basis  for  definite 
reasoning. 

Mathematical  geography,  well  taught,  gives  a  better 
training  of  the  logical  powers  than  arithmetic  or  any 
department  of  mathematics  can  give,  because  the  prob- 
lems are  so  clearly  manifest  in  the  elements  necessary  as  a 
basis  for  the  child's  reasoning. 

The  "Committee  of  Ten,"  appointed  by  the  National 
Educational  Association,  reported  as  follows  in  regard 
to  geography : 

"Observation  should  go  before  all  other  forms  of 
geographical  study,  and  prepare  the  way  for  them;  its 
object  being  (i)  to  develop  the  power  and  habit  of  geo- 
graphic observation ;  (2)  to  give  the  pupils  true  and  vivid 
basal  ideas ;   and  (3)  to  arouse  a  spirit  of  inquiry  and  a 


GEOGRAPHY  I49 

thirst  for  geographical  knowledge."  Every  child  has 
naturally  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  the  teacher  should 
develop.  Usually  we  have  dwarfed  or  destroyed  this 
basic  wonder  power  in  the  child's  mind  by  forcing  children 
to  study  statements  about  facts  instead  of  investigat- 
ing the  facts  of  Kfe  surroundings  and  conditions,  and 
by  compelling  them  to  try  to  memorize  names  instead 
of  guiding  them  in  the  study  of  problems  that  their 
own  observation  has  revealed  to  them,  so  that  they  may 
learn  for  themselves  the  principles  behind  the  phenomena 
with  which  they  are  already  perfectly  familiar.  The 
observation  so  wisely  recommended  by  the  "Committee 
of  Ten  "  is  intended  to  define  the  relationship  of  condi- 
tions with  which  the  children  are  already  famihar,  and  to 
make  them  conscious  of  facts  easily  recognizable  and 
possible  of  the  clearest  conception,  so  that  they  may 
be  led  to  think  definitely  in  regard  to  the  causes  that 
lie  behind  the  phenomena  of  the  child's  relationship 
to  the  universe,  and  the  influence  of  his  environment  to 
his  own  life.  Such  training  does  not  merely  develop 
a  deeper  interest  in  and  a  stronger  thirst  for  geographi- 
cal knowledge,  but  a  deeper  interest  and  a  stronger 
thirst  for  all  knowledge,  a  more  definite  reasoning  power, 
and  a  greater  capacity  to  recognize  the  material  prob- 
lems of  life,  and  through  them  gradually  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  problems  connected  with  the  development 
of  humanity. 

"The   Committee   of    Ten"    further   says:    "Obser- 
vation, however,  should  not  be  confined  simply  to  the 


150  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

passive,  fixed  features  by  which  pupils  are  surrounded. 
They  should  observe  the  agencies  that  produce  surface 
changes,  such  as  winds,  rains,  floods,  cultivation,  etc. 
The  temporary  streams  that  follow  rains  represent  on  a 
small  scale  many  of  the  natural  processes  by  which 
surface  features  are  produced.  From  these  immediate 
agencies  the  observations  should  extend  to  the  phenomena 
of  the  weather  and  cUmate,  such  as  temperature,  winds, 
clouds,  seasons,  etc." 

Pupils  should  be  trained  very  early  to  observe  the 
movement  of  the  sun  in  rising  and  setting  farther  north 
or  south,  and  in  rising  higher  or  falUng  lower  at  noon, 
noting  the  seasons  at  which  the  various  changes  take 
place.  The  changes  in  the  moon,  and  the  length  of 
time  that  passes  from  new  moon  to  full  moon,  and  from 
full  moon  to  new  moon  again,  should  be  observed  and 
recorded  even  by  young  children.  They  should  also 
note  daily  the  direction  of  the  wind,  and  try  to  find 
out  from  which  direction  rain  usually  comes;  and  they 
should  record  as  many  observations  as  possible  about  the 
weather. 

The  children  should  be  taken  out  to  ravines  and  hills 
and  ponds  and  the  shores  of  lakes,  where  practicable,  and 
trained  to  observe  the  effects  of  streams,  rains,  the  melting 
of  snow  in  the  springtime,  etc.  They  should  be  trained 
to  reproduce  and  reveal  in  visible  form  the  things  that  they 
have  observed  and  the  facts  that  they  have  learned,  as  far 
as  possible.  For  this  purpose  sand  tables,  sand  boxes, 
clay,  putty,  and  other  plastic  substances,  cardboard,  colors, 


GEOGRAPHY  151 

drawing,  and  other  forms  of  representation  and  construc- 
tion should  be  used.  Maps  made  by  the  pupils  independ- 
ently or  in  groups  or  classes  to  represent  the  vegetables  of 
the  different  zones,  or  the  animals  of  different  countries, 
or  the  relief  structure  of  continents,  or  the  natural  and 
manufactured  commercial  products  of  different  countries, 
are  much  more  interesting  and  impressive  to  the  pupils 
than  ordinary  maps.  In  making  such  maps  excellent 
pictures  of  trees,  plants,  animals,  and  men  and  women 
in  their  national  costumes  may  be  cut  from  magazines 
or  advertisements  and  pasted  on  the  maps  drawn  by  the 
pupils,  or  the  pictures  may  be  drawn  and  colored  by  the 
pupils  themselves.  The  making  of  such  a  map  will 
make  a  clearer  and  more  permanent  impression  on  a 
child's  memory  than  a  hundred  efforts  to  commit  the 
facts  to  memory  by  ordinary  processes. 

Rapid  map  sketching  from  memory,  locating  the  special 
features  that  are  being  studied,  is  the  quickest  and  surest 
way  of  fixing  geographical  forms,  and  locations  in  the 
memory.  Careful  map  drawing  to  a  scale  should  be 
taught  to  the  older  pupils,  but  nearly  all  map  drawing 
done  in  school  should  be  rapid  sketching  from  memory, 
A  pupil  who  sketches  the  same  map  ten  times  from 
memory  in  half  an  hour,  comparing  his  sketch  each  time 
with  the  real  map  to  see  the  defects  of  the  sketch,  will 
have  learned  vastly  more  about  the  map  than  a  pupil  who 
has  devoted  the  whole  half  hour  to  making  one  carefully 
drawn  map. 

The  formation  of  soils  by  the  weathering  of  rocks  and 


152  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

mountains,  and  by  decaying  animal  and  vegetable 
matter,  should  be  explained.  The  children  in  most 
localities  may  be  led  to  observe  the  formative  processes 
of  soil  construction.  The  influence  of  large  rivers  in 
carrying  the  soil  for  long  distances  from  the  mountains, 
and  in  forming  new  lands,  should  be  taught. 

There  are  few  places  where  the  fundamental  appercep- 
tive centers  for  the  true  understanding  of  the  essential 
principles  and  facts  of  geography,  such  as  direction, 
distance,  relative  location,  natural  adaptation  to  man's 
needs  and  uses,  difference  in  soils,  the  effects  of  winds  and 
water  in  weathering  rocks  and  in  forming  new  land,  as 
well  as  the  various  forms  of  land  and  water,  may  not  be 
defined  clearly  in  the  minds  of  pupils  by  actual  investiga- 
tion and  experience.  Such  investigations  and  experiences 
are  the  true  basis  for  real  geographical  teaching. 

A  very  interesting  department  of  geography  is  the 
study  of  the  various  races  into  which  men  are  divided, 
and-  of  the  different  types  of  government  which  they 
have  evolved,  with  their  religions  and  other  elements  of 
their  varying  degrees  of  development  and  civilization. 
These  studies  should  be  taken  up  in  the  later  years  of 
school  life. 

In  "Hard  Times"  Dickens  thus  describes  his  school- 
master: "He  knew  all  about  the  watersheds  of  all  the 
world  (whatever  they  are),  and  all  the  histories  of  all 
the  peoples,  and  all  the  names  of  all  the  rivers  and 
mountains,  and  all  the  productions,  manners,  and  customs 
of  all  the  countries,  and  all  their  boundaries  and  bearings 


GEOGRAPHY  1 53 

on  the  two  and  thirty  points  of  the  compass."  And  the 
novelist  adds:  "Ah,  rather  overdone,  M'Choakumchild. 
If  he  had  only  learned  a  little  less,  how  infinitely  better 
he  might  have  been  taught  much  more  !" 

This  is  but  a  slight  exaggeration.  The  M'Choakum- 
childs  are  yet  doing  a  good  deal  of  teaching.  One  of  the 
family  taught  in  New  Jersey  at  the  time  of  the  Columbian 
exposition  at  Chicago.  I  was  one  of  the  State  committee 
appointed  to  pass  upon  and  arrange  the  papers  sent  in 
for  exhibition.  One  examination  paper  in  geography 
was  based  on  questions  of  which  the  following  was  one. 
"Name  all  the  places  in  the  world  you  know."  Then 
followed  a  few  pages  of  foolscap,  the  facts  being  arranged 
in  a  highly  logical  order  something  like  this,  Europe,  Toms 
River,  Sacramento,  Yang-tse  Kiang,  Revere  Beach,  Ger- 
many, Connecticut  River,  Kamchatka,  etc.  I  have  known 
but  one  question  designed  to  get  at  so  much  information. 
The  single  case  is  that  of  a  question  in  history  intended 
"to  develop  general  information,"  which  read  thus: 
"Where  and  when  did  who  do  what?" 

Note  also  that  in  all  this  learning  but  one  faculty  of  the 
mind  is  thought  of,  the  memory.  Now  let  us  grant  the 
importance  of  the  memory,  and  let  us  grant  also  that 
some  movements  in  modern  education  have  tended  to  an 
atrophy  of  that  faculty,  but  still  it  is  true  that  memory 
is  not  all  there  is  of  us,  even  in  geography.  Geography 
is  a  logical  study,  and  should  appeal  to  the  reason,  imag- 
ination, and  perceptive  powers  of  the  student,  as  well  as 
to  the  memory. 


154  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Now,  whenever  one  uses  psychological  terms,  he  is  very 
apt  to  be  set  down  as  unpractical.  But  consider  what, 
in  plain  EngHsh,  these  words  mean,  perception,  reason, 
imagination;  and  especially  what  they  mean  in  the 
teaching  of  geography.  They  have  much  to  do  with 
present-day  education. 

Perception  means  simply  that  we  shall  see  things,  and 
see  them  well.  The  fact  that  many  people  go  through 
life  and  see  little  takes  the  word  "  perception  "  out  of  the 
unpractical,  and  raises  these  two  questions,  questions 
decidedly  practical :  Is  this  a  good  thing  for  the  boy  ? 
How  did  it  come  about  ? 

Is  it  a  good  thing  to  be  blind,  or  partially  blind,  or 
even  of  faulty  vision  ?  The  whole  question  of  success 
turns  on  a  man's  power  to  note  every  fact  of  importance 
to  him,  and  on  his  power  to  make  use  of  it.  The  tend- 
ency to  observe  and  the  power  to  note  are  aims  in  teach- 
ing that  by  no  possibility  can  we  leave  out.  There  is  no 
department  of  life  in  which  keenness  of  vision  is  not  of 
value.  To  be  quick  to  see  and  to  take  advantage  is  the 
popular  way  of  putting  the  thought. 

But  many  children  lack  just  this  power.  In  plain, 
homely  phrase,  they  lack  gumption.  They  do  not  see, 
they  do  not  care  to  see,  they  do  not  know  what  seeing  is. 
How  did  it  come  about?  Just  as  muscular  feebleness 
comes  about,  just  as  lack  of  musical  discrimination  comes 
about,  just  as  absence  of  mechanical  skill  comes  about : 
by  failure  to  recognize  the  power  to  see,  and  failure  to 
develop  it.    And  the  pity  of  it  is  that  the  disposition  to 


GEOGRAPHY  I 55 

see  is  the  dominant  characteristic  of  childhood.  That  is 
the  child's  principal  business,  to  see  and  to  ask  questions. 
If  we  recognize  this  tendency  and  develop  it,  it  will  grow 
like  any  other  tendency ;  if  we  do  not  develop  it,  it  will 
wither,  Hke  any  other  tendency.  Froebel,  the  great 
German  apostle  of  education,  has  expressed  the  pathos  of 
the  situation:  "Unfortunately,  we  see  here  again  con- 
firmed what  to  our  sorrow  confronts  us  so  often  in  life ; 
that  even  the  highest  and  most  precious  blessing  is  lost  by 
man  if  he  does  not  know  what  he  possesses."  "  By  and 
by  we  would  fain  give  another  direction  to  the  energies, 
desires,  and  instincts  of  the  child  growing  into  boyhood ; 
but  it  is  too  late,  for  the  deep  meaning  of  child  life  passing 
into  boyhood  we  not  only  failed  to  appreciate,  but  we 
misjudged  it ;  we  not  only  failed  to  nurse  it,  but  we 
misdirected  and  crushed  it." 

The  failure  to  develop  perception  runs  throughout  our 
entire  school  work.  In  geography  our  opportunities  for  its 
development  are  many.  For  example  :  Among  the  little 
children,  it  is  possible  to  point  to  the  positions  of  the  sun 
during  the  day,  to  observe  which  way  the  shadow  falls  in 
the  forenoon  ;  in  the  afternoon ;  at  noon  ;  to  set  sticks  in 
the  yard,  and  notice  at  different  hours  in  the  day  the 
length  of  shadow  with  regard  to  the  stick  ;  to  actually  ob- 
serve natural  features,  such  as  hills,  rivers,  ponds.  Among 
the  older  children  it  is  possible  to  observe  the  kinds  of  soil 
from  the  coarsest  gravel  to  the  finest  vegetable  mold ;  to 
take  field  lessons  and  to  see  all  things  geographical  that  can 
be  seen,  ocean,  shore,  bay,  island,  hill,  slope,  etc. ;  to  ob- 


156  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

serve  the  geography  of  one's  own  city,  to  know  of  its  man- 
ufactures, etc.,  to  recognize  the  appearance  of  foreigners 
whom  we  meet,  to  visit  ships  that  go  to  foreign  coun- 
tries etc.  The  catalogue  is  endless.  The  facts  of  geog- 
raphy receive,  under  such  treatment,  a  reaHty  that  no 
book  study  can  impart.  If  we  do  not  do  these  things, 
if  the  child  gets  anything  from  a  book  that  he  can, 
with  reasonable  effort,  find  for  himself,  we  throw  away 
the  precious  opportunity  to  train  the  faculty  of  looking 
for  and  seeing  things,  that  "indefinable  longing,"  which, 
as  Froebel  says,  "urges  the  boy  to  seek  the  things  of 
nature."     It  is  a  longing  easily  starved. 

Now  note  very  briefly  the  relation  of  geography  to 
the  reason.  Does  the  cultivation  of  the  reason  need 
defense  ?  Is  it  not  more  important  to  a  man  that  he 
shall  make  no  false  moves  from  what  he  calls  bad 
judgment  than  that  he  shall  know  the  bends  in  the 
Susquehanna  River  ? 

Why  not  lead  the  pupil  to  think  concerning  the  causes 
of  fertility?  Thus,  fertile  soil  is  generally  found  at  the 
lower  edges,  and  poor  soils  at  the  upper  edges  of  long 
slopes.  The  study  of  climate,  for  example,  employs 
the  reason  very  largely.  Including  as  it  does  mete- 
orology, its  influence  on  the  productions  of  the  earth, 
the  pursuits  of  men,  their  comforts  and  luxuries,  — 
it  is  a  fascinating  study.  The  means  that  men  em- 
ploy to  counteract  the  influence  of  climate  are  also 
interesting.  And  finally,  the  fact  that  climate  controls 
production  results  in  the  conclusion  that  climate  controls 


GEOGRAPHY  I 57 

commerce.  Why  not  teach  that  the  people  of  rich  pro- 
ductive regions  must  exchange  surplus  products  for 
things  that  they  need  but  do  not  produce ;  that  a 
center  for  collecting  the  surplus  and  sending  it  away 
must  be  established;  that  the  needed  products  will  be 
received  at  this  center  and  then  distributed  locally; 
that  a  center  will  be  established  at  a  place  where  water 
or  railway  communication,  or  both,  are  available,  etc.  ? 

As  for  the  imagination,  let  us  call  it  broadly  the  picture- 
forming  power.  That  is  near  enough  for  the  present  pur- 
pose. Think  of  St.  Petersburg.  What  do  you  see  ?  A 
dot  on  the  map.  Think  of  the  city  in  which  you  live. 
What  do  you  see  ?  A  city.  Now  much  of  our  so-called 
geographical  knowledge  is  just  so  many  dots  and  lines  and 
colors  on  the  map,  or  some  Hues  of  printed  matter  in  the 
text.  Such  knowledge  is  inert.  It  leads  to  nothing. 
But  picture  knowledge,  the  photograph  on  the  retina  of 
the  imagination,  makes  foreign  scenes  real,  and  foreign 
people  Hve ;  it  awakens  curiosity,  excites  thought,  makes 
real  the  idea  of  trade,  awakens  sentiments  of  sympathy, 
humanity,  fraternity,  tends  to  destroy  foolish  prejudice, 
substitutes  arbitration  for  war. 

But  to  get  all  this  the  course  must  be  lightened.  The 
course  of  study  cannot  take  in  everything,  and  it  seems  a 
wise  principle  to  put  into  the  course  what  can  be  thor- 
oughly drilled  by  the  teacher.  If  this  nucleus  is  firmly 
retained,  the  child's  subsequent  acquisition  in  geography 
will  be  easily  and  naturally  made. 

We  must  make  the  central  thought  in  geography  the 


158  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

earth  as  the  abode  of  man,  making  the  interests  of 
man  the  prominent  interests.  This  would  cause  a 
treatment  of  countries  and  cities  to  be  based  on  the 
commercial  point  of  view,  involving  reasons  for  the  ex- 
istence of  the  cities,  etc.,  rather  than  upon  mere  ques- 
tions of  location.  It  would  make  such  matters  outrank 
in  importance  the  location  of  capes,  bays,  etc. 

We  must  guard  against  the  present  tendency  to  de- 
mand of  the  child  scientific  information,  physiographic 
or  otherwise,  that  is  beyond  his  comprehension.  This 
means  that  physiography  is  to  be  taught,  but  that  there 
is  a  Hmit  to  it,  and  that  other  phases  of  the  geography 
have  their  rights. 

We  must  keep  all  the  time  as  far  as  possible  within  the 
sphere  of  the  child's  interests. 

We  must  have  much  field  work;  we  must  make  the  child 
a  discoverer.  We  must  by  supplementary  books  on  scenes, 
customs,  and  trade  make  all  countries  real.  We  must 
closely  associate  the  geography  of  a  country  with  its  his- 
tory. Finally  we  must  demand  of  the  pupil  that  he  think. 
A  large  collection  of  pictures  should  be  made  in  every 
school  to  illustrate  the  lesson  in  geography.  Magazines 
and  illustrated  papers  contain  many  pictures  of  cities  and 
typical  scenery,  lumbering,  and  agriculture,  commercial 
institutions,  great  factories,  mining  plants,  rolHng  mills, 
oil  derricks,  and  dock  yards,  people  in  their  national 
costumes,  and  animal  and  vegetable  productions.  These 
should  be  cut  and  mounted  by  the  pupils,  and  kept  in 
classified  packets  for  use  in  the  geography  lessons. 


GEOGRAPHY  1 59 

In  all  geographical  teaching,  the  overloading  of  the 
memory  with  mere  details  of  facts,  or  names,  or  data 
relating  to  population,  productions,  area,  etc.,  should  be 
avoided.  The  aim  should  be  to  train  pupils  to  be  in- 
terested in  mankind,  and  in  the  earth  as  man's  home  and 
his  source  of  subsistence,  and  to  lead  them  to  observe 
and  think  intelligently. 

Two  stories  must  close  this  chapter.  The  first  is 
from  a  very  entertaining  little  book  written  by  a  bril- 
liant grammar  master  of  Chicago,  Mr.  William  M. 
Giffin,  entitled  "School  Days  of  the  Fifties."  Would 
that  the  scene  were  impossible  now! 

"We  studied  'jogafy'  in  the  old  stone  schoolhouse 
(in  New  York  State)  too ;  both  in  the  big  room  and  the 
little  room  ask  'What  is  an  island?'  and  all  would  yell, 
'  An  island  is  a  body  of  land  surrounded  by  water.'  Then 
had  we  been  asked  what  is  the  meaning  of  surrounded, 
there  would  have  been  no  yelling,  as  it  is  doubtful  if  any 
of  us  knew.  I  shall  never  forget  the  day  a  visitor,  a 
teacher,  by  the  way,  up  in  pedagogy,  as  I  know  now,  sat 
listening  to  us  recite  definition  after  definition  with  a 
smile  on  his  face.  At  last  the  teacher  asked  if  he  would 
like  to  ask  some  questions.  His  first  question  was, 
'Name  the  Middle  Atlantic  States.'  We  named  them. 
His  next,  'Who  ever  saw  any  of,  or  any  part  of  the  Middle 
Atlantic  States?  Hands  up.'  No  hands.  'Well,  who 
never  saw  any  of  the  Middle  Atlantic  States?  Hands 
up.'  Up  went  all  of  the  hands!  Then,  'Does  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  flow  up  hill  or  down  hill?'     'Up  hill,' 


l6o  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

with  one  voice.  We  knew  by  the  way  the  teacher 
looked  that  something  was  wrong,  but  did  not  know 
what.  We  were  sure  we  were  right,  because  we  had 
seen  it  on  the  map.  Now  came, 'Which  is  higher.  Lake 
Erie  or  Lake  Ontario?'  'Lake  Ontario,'  again  from 
the  whole  class.  Now  came  the  last  but  not  least,  '  You 
may  all  point  to  the  north,'  and  every  index  finger  of 
our  right  hands  pointed  to  the  ceihng  of  the  room." 
The  other  is  a  Chelsea  story.  A  wise  principal  and 
a  couple  of  wise  teachers  took  their  classes  over  to  visit 
a  White  Star  steamer.  They  went  by  appointment, 
wandered  all  over  the  boat,  asked  questions,  helped 
themselves  to  travel  literature  and  maps  of  explanation 
published  by  the  company,  as  well  as  time-tables.  Then 
they  came  back  to  Chelsea.  They  traveled  to  Birming- 
ham, London,  Glasgow,  etc.,  with  the  aid  of  guides, 
maps,  and  time-tables.  The  facts  of  interest  in  the  guides 
were  fascinating,  the  pupils  were  captured  by  the  study. 
They  did  not  learn  all  that  the  geography  says  about  Eng- 
land, but  they  knew  England  in  a  sense  that  few  pupils 
(or  grown-ups  either)  know  anything.    That  is  education. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Reading 

It  is  high  time  that  this  discussion  took  into  consider- 
ation the  leading  member  of  the  ancient  trio  of  "  r's." 
Our  fathers  were  not  wrong  in  giving  to  reading  this 
place  of  honor.  It  deserves  it.  It  lies  at  the  basis  of 
all  knowledge.  Without  it,  progress  in  every  direction 
is  practically  arrested.  It  is  indeed  true  that  some  success 
is  possible  without  this  art.  There  are  other  avenues  of 
knowledge.  Worldly  shrewdness,  like  that  of  our  wise, 
lovable,  and  iUiterate  Mr.  Bofhn,  in  "  Our  Mutual  Friend," 
indicates  that  there  is  a  wisdom  not  due  to  reading. 
But  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  we  must  depend  for  the 
data  on  which  we  base  much  of  our  knowledge  on  our 
power  to  read  the  thoughts  of  others  expressed  in  the 
printed  page. 

The  apparent  stupidity  of  children  in  much  of  their 
school  work  is  often  due  to  their  inability  to  really  grasp 
the  meaning  of  the  thing  that  they  are  reading.  They 
are  in  a  position  similar  to  that  in  which  we  adults 
would  be  if  we  had  to  get  all  our  knowledge  of  reHgion  or 
politics  from  the  Germ.an  language,  of  which  we  had  a 
very  incomplete  knowledge.  Much  would  elude  us  in 
that  case;  and  for  the  same  reason  much  eludes  the 
children  in  the  reading  of  English. 

M  l6l 


I 62  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

But  what  is  the  practical  purpose  in  the  teaching  of 
reading  ?  Of  what  use  to  us  adults  is  the  power  to  read  ? 
Merely  that  we  may  quietly  ascertain  from  the  page  of 
printed  or  written  characters  the  meaning  that  some  one 
has  recorded  in  that  manner.  But  is  that  the  purpose 
in  school  ?  It  would  not  seem  so.  Apparently  the 
thing  we  are  going  to  do  all  our  lives  is  to  read  aloud,  for 
that  is  what  the  school  reading  lesson  generally  means, 
and  has  meant  from  time  immemorial.  This  seems  rather 
amusing.  For  we  are  trying  to  acquire  the  art  of  doing 
a  certain  thing  in  the  future  by  doing  all  the  time  the 
thing  we  are  not  going  to  do  in  the  future.  The 
rejoinder  is  simple.  To  learn  to  read  to  ourselves  we 
must  read  aloud  so  that  the  teacher  may  discover  that 
we  are  reading  correctly.  And  this  answer  is  a  type  of 
many  a  foolish  answer  that  we  school  teachers  are 
making  to  many  a  fair  question.  We  answer  by  asserting 
a  thing  that  is  not  so,  merely  because  we  blindly  accept 
traditions  handed  down  to  us  by  teachers  who,  like  our- 
selves, never  questioned  the  tradition.  The  only  possible 
way  to  learn  whether  a  child  understands  what  he  has 
read  is  to  ask  him  to  tell  in  his  own  language  what  he  has 
learned.  Nothing  is  more  interesting  in  the  whole 
range  of  school  administration  than  the  fact  that  every- 
where teachers  are  doing  things  that  do  not  produce  the 
results  they  are  intended  to  produce,  and  yet  they  keep 
on  doing  them. 

Illustrations  of  this  strange  blindness  are  mmierous 
enough.    The  ascendency  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  our 


READING  163 

high  schools  for  so  long  a  time,  and  the  earthquakes 
that  were  necessary  to  retire  them  to  their  proper  sta- 
tus, furnish  a  striking  example.  But  reading  furnishes 
another  illustration  that  our  emancipation  is  as  yet  but 
imperfectly  effected. 

For  it  is  true  to  a  limited  extent  only  that  we  learn  to 
read  to  ourselves  by  reading  aloud.  Let  me  not  be 
understood  to  underrate  the  importance  of  reading  aloud. 
We  cannot  do  without  it;  it  is  indispensable  in  gaining 
correct  articulation,  pronunciation,  and  expression.  These 
functions  are  important,  and  to  a  limited  extent  reading 
al(5lid  does  also  help  in  acquiring  the  art  of  reading  to 
one's  self,  especially  in  the  earHer  stages.  But  its  function 
in  this  particular  is  excludingly  restricted.  We  acquire 
skill  in  reading  in  another  way. 

To  demonstrate  this  proposition  is  important.  It  is 
interesting  not  to  the  teacher  alone,  but  to  the  parent  also. 
For  if  my  contention  is  valid,  then  there  is  evidently  a 
large  waste  of  time  in  the  teaching  of  reading.  Putting 
it  tersely,  if  we  can  teach  a  child  to  read  in  four  years 
instead  of  in  eight,  we  save  four  years  of  his  reading 
time.  And  time  is  the  most  precious  possession  a  child 
brings  to  school.  Some  children  are  limited  as  regards 
money;  all  children  are  limited  as  regards  time.  Let 
me  then  offer  at  this  point  some  considerations  that 
establish  my  position,  and  then  ask,  to  what  practical 
result  does  this  proof  point  ? 

First,  it  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that 
children  who  have  plenty  of  reading  at  home  and  who 


1 64  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

are  induced  by  their  parents  to  read,  or  who  love  to  read 
themselves,  soon  outstrip  their  companions  and  acquire 
the  power  to  read  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time. 
The  reading  aloud  served  to  start  them;  the  rest  they 
did  themselves. 

Again,  it  is  easily  proven  that  where  an  intelligent 
teacher  is  successful  in  putting  all  his  children  in  the 
same  relation  to  silent  reading  that  holds  in  the  favored 
cases  cited  above,  a  similar  thing  happens.  The  method 
is  simple.  While  carrying  on  his  regular  reading  lessons, 
he  supplies  his  pupils  with  all  the  silent  reading  suitable 
to  their  years  that  they  will  take,  and  provides  oppor- 
timities  for  using  it.  He  cultivates  on  their  part  an 
appetite  for  reading.  It  is  an  appetite,  by  the  way,  that 
children  may  easily  acquire.  The  result  soon  appears. 
The  children  make  rapid  advance,  and  in  a  year  they 
are  reading  with  ease  matter  that  would  otherwise  be 
impossible. 

Again,  it  is  clearly  impossible  to  get  sufficient  practice 
by  merely  reading  a  short  paragraph.  If  one  did  only 
that  in  studying  a  foreign  language,  he  would  never  learn 
it  at  all.  Fortunately  for  the  boy  in  school,  even  in  the 
worst  conditions,  he  must  read  silently  what  others 
are  reading  aloud. 

The  fact  is  that  reading  is  simply  a  matter  of  practice. 
It  is,  however,  a  matter,  too,  of  a  great  deal  of  practice  if 
one  would  become  proficient.  I  am  referring  to  the 
silent  act  of  reading,  which  is  what  ninety-nine  in  every 
one  hundred  understand  by  reading.     If  one  would  learn 


READING  165 

German,  he  must  be  put  in  an  atmosphere  of  German ; 
he  must  breathe  it,  read  it,  talk  it,  dream  it.  And  so 
must  the  child  who  is  learning  English. 

Reading  is  an  art  in  which  the  child  gains  the  most 
from  his  own  exertions.  It  is  like  learning  to  ride  the 
bicycle;  we  can  start  him  and  help  him,  but  he  must, 
after  all,  do  the  thing  himself.  All  the  teacher  can  do  is 
to  provide  material  and  opportunity  for  practice.  The 
parent  can  also  help  very  much  by  supplying  the  child 
with  plenty  of  wholesome  reading.  And  it  is,  moreover, 
very  important  that  the  parent  should  understand  the 
basis  of  his  child's  instruction  in  school. 

Indeed,  by  the  time  the  child  finishes  the  fifth  grade  in 
our  schools,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  average  case,  at  ten  years 
of  age,  he  ought  to  read  easily  anything  that  he  can  under- 
stand. The  mere  power  of  reading  should  be  mastered. 
I  am  speaking  of  silent  reading,  but  it  is  a  surprising 
fact  that  most  children  who  can  do  this  are  also  expert 
in  oral  reading.  The  favored  child,  to  whom  I  have 
already  referred,  who  has  plenty  of  reading  at  home,  is 
usually  a  good  oral  reader.  The  reason  ought  to  be 
obvious.  With  power  comes  intelligence,  and  with  in- 
telligence expertness  in  many  directions. 

But  mere  power  to  read  is  not  enough.  There  are 
many  things  to  be  done  for  the  child  even  after  he  has 
acquired  the  art  of  reading.  Let  us  think  of  them. 
They  are  rather  important. 

First,  the  child  ought  to  form  the  reading  habit.  I 
do  not  know  of  any  outcome  of  the  school  work  more 


1 66  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

important.  Oral  reading,  valuable  as  it  is,  may  be 
taught  so  as  to  absolutely  prevent  the  inculcation  of  a 
love  for  literature.  Our  pupils  (I  speak  of  the  country 
at  large)  do  not  go  out  from  our  schools  with  the  reading 
habit.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  all  of  us 
that  the  habit  of  reading  to  ourselves,  which  is  the  way 
most  of  us  read  when  we  read  at  all,  must  be  formed 
like  any  other  habit. 

Second,  we  must  train  the  child  so  that  reading  shall 
be  a  mental  stimulant.  With  many  people  it  is  not. 
In  school  we  must  not  fail  to  recognize  that  an  important 
factor  in  the  teaching  of  reading  is  the  fact  that  the  child's 
mind  is  expressing  itself.  But  many  reading  lessons 
in  school  cannot  at  all  be  described  as  expressions  of  the 
inner  nature  of  the  child ;  they  are  just  reading  lessons. 
No  one  who  observes  the  apathetic  attitude  of  some 
lower-grade  primary  classes  in  their  reading  lesson,  or 
who  hears  their  unsympathetic  tones,  can  believe 
that  the  soul  of  the  child  has  anything  to  do  with 
the  matter.  And  this  mental  attitude  toward  reading 
established  thus  early  is  the  seed  out  of  which  evolves  the 
unintelligent  work  in  reading  in  the  later  grades.  The 
treatment  of  the  reading  lesson  in  the  grammar  grades 
often  presents  a  dead  lesson.  The  sum  of  the  matter  is 
this  :  We  cannot  teach  reading,  any  more  than  we  can 
teach  anything  else,  and  ignore  the  self-activity  of  the 
child. 

Third,  the  ultimate  aim  in  the  teaching  is  intelhgent 
recognition  of  content.     Children  say  stupid  things  in 


READING  167 

history,  for  example,  because  they  imperfectly  compre- 
hend the  language  of  the  book.  I  think  it  would  surprise 
many  a  teacher  if  he  could  know  what  a  child  really  does 
get  from  the  printed  page.  One  reason  why  the  answers 
of  children  are  vague,  uncertain,  or  fragmentary  is  that 
their  ideas  are  vague,  uncertain,  or  fragmentary. 

Fourth,  we  must,  through  reading,  increase  the  child's 
vocabulary.  Those  who  can  lay  claim  to  a  large  vo- 
cabulary never  obtained  that  vocabulary  through  the 
daily  oral  lesson  in  school.  Indeed  increase  of  vocabu- 
lary is  seldom  the  result  of  a  conscious  effort.  In 
learning  a  foreign  language  the  basis  is  obtained 
by  a  direct  effort  to  learn  words,  but  if  one  ever 
really  masters  a  language,  the  great  body  of  his  vo- 
cabulary is  obtained  through  silent  reading,  hearing, 
and  speaking.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  with  the  child  ? 
In  our  own  case  also,  the  process  of  unconsciously  in- 
creasing our  vocabulary  gives  us  greater  and  greater 
power  in  that  line,  and  the  longer  we  are  at  it  the  more 
rapid  our  progress.  If  this  be  also  true  of  the  child,  is 
not  a  rapidly  increasing  intelligence  implied  in  the  pro- 
cess ?  For  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  our  own  case  the 
increase  in  our  vocabulary  was  a  secondary  result  based 
on  an  enlarging  fund  of  ideas  which  demanded  words. 
The  increasing  fund  of  ideas  is  another  way  of  saying 
increasing  intelligence. 

Finally ;  children  must  acquire  a  love  for  and  an  ap- 
preciation of  literature.  If  they  are  to  do  this,  it  is  not 
sufficient  that  they  be  introduced  to  the  subject;  they 


l68  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

must  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  literature.  And  besides, 
it  is  not  clear  that  the  way  to  reach  a  position  of  mas- 
tery in  this  subject  is  merely  to  read  aloud.  I  think 
that  we  can  grasp  the  conditions  and  requisites  of  an 
appreciation  of  literature  if  we  fix  our  attention  on  a 
parallel  branch  of  art,  music.  How  much  would  we  ever 
learn  of  music,  of  its  literature,  of  musical  form  and 
musical  appreciation,  if  we  only  learned  what  we  sang 
ourselves  ?  We  ought  to  sing  to  ourselves,  but  we  must  do 
far  more :  by  hearing  them,  we  must  study  works  that 
we  could  by  no  possibihty  sing  or  play.  We  must  attend 
recitals,  symphonies,  oratorios,  as  well  as  perform  music 
ourselves.  Why  not  so  in  Hterature?  Should  not  the 
child  read  silently  much  that  he  cannot  or  has  not  the 
time  to  read  aloud?  Why  should  not  much  be  read  to 
him  by  the  teacher  ?  This  does  not  exclude  the  regular 
reading  lesson,  but  it  revolutionizes  the  whole  plan  of 
procedure.  Studying  literature  is  not  only  reading 
aloud  or  silently  so  many  inches  of  the  printed  page ;  it 
is  the  acquisition  of  the  power  of  grasping  and  appre- 
ciating and  loving  worthy  thought,  as  expressed  in  worthy 
language.  The  aim  is  not  to  say  this  language  aloud, 
but  to  comprehend  it  as  the  expression  of  beauty  and 
force.  The  question  is,  shall  the  pupil  ultimately  seek 
the  best  literature  for  his  own  reading  ? 


CHAPTER  XIV 
Spelling 

Artemus  Ward  said  of  Chaucer  that  "he  writ  good 
poetry  but  he  couldnt  spel";  he  had  a  poor  opinion  of  a 
man  who  "couldnt  spel." 

The  world  at  large  has  much  the  same  opinion,  not  of 
Chaucer,  but  of  the  man  who  cannot  spell.  At  first  sight 
it  seems  a  little  thing  to  make  such  a  fuss  about.  As  a 
disciplinary  study,  while  not  without  value,  it  is  of  less 
importance  than  any  other  study  in  the  school  curriculum. 
It  is  entirely  conceivable  that  a  man  might  make  a 
splendid  success  in  life  and  still  be  a  very  poor  speller. 
Many  fairly  successful  people,  indeed,  are  weak  in  the 
art  of  spelling. 

And  yet  one  of  the  most  serious  criticisms  on  the 
product  of  the  public  school  is  made  at  this  point.  An 
obvious  reason  for  this  criticism  is  that  everybody  can 
see  bad  spelling.  A  man  may  be  a  much  worse  arithme- 
tician than  he  is  a  speller  (and  he  generally  is),  but  it  is 
harder  to  find  that  out.  He  may  conceal  his  weakness  in 
arithmetic  ;  indeed  he  may  never  be  called  upon  to  reveal 
it,  but  he  must  write;  and  at  once,  if  he  is  a  poor  speller, 
he  is  detected. 

In  addition  to  this,  spelling  bears  some  such  relation  to 
a  man's  attainments  as  good  clothes  do  to  his  personality. 

169 


lyo  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

When  our  penmanship  and  spelling  are  bad,  the  mind, 
so  to  speak,  seems  shabbily  dressed.  We  set  a  higher 
value  on  these  marks  of  culture  than  on  facility  of  ex- 
pression, accuracy,  or  even  worthy  thought.  Horace 
Greeley's  writing  could  be  deciphered  only  by  one 
highly  paid  compositor  in  the  New  York  Tribune  printing 
office.  There  were  many  in  the  office  who  wrote  better 
than  he.  Indeed,  there  were  none  who  wrote  so  badly. 
But  Horace  Greeley  is  remembered,  and  most  of  the 
others  forgotten.  The  world  will  often  forgive  or  con- 
done bad  penmanship,  but  bad  spelling,  never.  Yet  they 
stand  on  about  the  same  level.  And  this  adverse  opinion 
persists  in  spite  of  the  fact,  that  any  one  can  verify,  that 
while  good  penmanship  and  spelling  may  go  with  a  good 
mind,  they  frequently  do  not.  Edward  Eggleston  says,  in 
"The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  concerning  the  champion 
speller  of  Flat  Creek : 

"Jeems  Phillips  was  a  tall,  lank,  stoop-shouldered 
fellow,  who  had  never  distinguished  himself  in  any  other 
pursuit  than  spelling.  Except  in  this  one  art  of  spelling, 
he  was  of  no  account.  He  could  not  catch  well  or  bat 
well  in  ball.  He  did  not  succeed  well  in  any  study  but 
that  of  Webster's  Elementary.  But  in  that  he  was  —  to 
use  the  usual  Flat  Creek  locution  —  in  that  he  was  *a 
boss.'  This  genius  for  spelling  is  in  some  people  a 
sixth  sense,  a  matter  of  intuition.  Some  spellers  are 
born  and  not  made,  and  their  facihty  reminds  one  of  the 
mathematical  prodigies  that  crop  out  every  now  and  then 
to  bewilder  the  world." 


SPELLING  171 

This  prelude  is  not  a  plea  for  bad  spelling,  or  even  an 
apology  for  the  absence  of  good  spelling.  It  is  a  demurrer 
entered  to  arrest  the  hasty  judgment.  Good  spelling  is 
important;  so  are  good  clothes;  but  in  both  cases  there  are 
considerations  far  more  important.  It  is  unfair  to  urge 
the  spelling  criticism  on  our  children  as  final  simply  be- 
cause it  is  the  easiest  criticism  we  can  make.  It  is  my 
judgment  that  the  spelling  of  most  people  is  in  advance 
of  their  other  acquirements.  If  that  be  a  fact,  it  is  an 
unfortunate  fact.  To  return  to  the  parallel  of  good 
clothes,  it  suggests  the  definition  of  a  "dude,"  "A  ten- 
cent  man  with  a  ten-dollar  hat." 

There  is  no  subject  in  which  there  is  more  pains 
taken  in  school  than  in  spelling.  And  the  product  of 
the  spelling  lessons  is  very  satisfactory.  Why,  then, 
the  inadequacy  of  the  practical  product?  That  is  a 
question  that  few  teachers  ask.  I  have  in  mind  an 
amusing  incident  of  a  teacher  who  taught  speUing  in 
the  high  school.  She  said,  "The  grammar  school  pupils 
come  here  not  knowing  how  to  spell.  I  have  to  teach 
them."  And  she  went  at  the  task  in  precisely  the  same 
way  the  grammar  school  teachers  had  gone  at  it,  giving 
lists  of  words  no  better  than  those  the  pupils  had  already 
had,  and  taught  by  the  same  methods,  excepting  that 
some  of  the  lower  school  teachers  taught  better. 

Now  the  words  that  our  children  misspell  are  not  the 
spelling  book  words,  but  the  words  of  their  own  vocabu- 
lary. The  spelling  lesson  is  usually  not  made  up  of  these 
words,  but  of  other  words.     This  seems  absurd.    Yet  that 


172  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

is  the  way  in  which  spelling  has  been  taught  for  a  long, 
long  time.  When  we  consider  that  the  great  majority 
of  errors,  at  least  in  the  earlier  years,  have  to  do  almost 
exclusively  with  familiar  words,  i.e.  with  the  child's  own 
vocabulary,  it  seems  clear  that  if  we  can  extirpate  such 
errors,  we  can  largely  clear  up  the  child's  bad  spelling. 
Why,  then,  should  we  go  on  endeavoring  to  teach  a  new 
vocabulary  and  leave  this  mass  of  inaccuracy  behind  us  ? 
Such  a  course  of  procedure  is  illogical  in  the  highest  degree. 

There  is  a  distinction  to  be  made  between  teaching 
spelUng  and  increasing  the  vocabulary.  The  former  has 
to  do  with  the  child's  own  errors,  the  latter  with  words 
that  he  does  not  know.  But  we  jumble  the  two  together 
as  if  there  were  no  difference.  If  we  realized  the  differ- 
ence, we  would  not  do  some  of  the  strange  things  we  do 
in  our  so-called  teaching  of  spelling. 

Again,  no  method  of  teaching  spelling  is  logical  that 
does  not  cause  the  knowledge  to  become  immediately 
available.  A  word  must  become  a  part  of  the  child's 
vocabulary  before  it  is  learned  in  a  practical  sense. 
Therefore  the  increase  must  be  very  slow  and  the  words 
easy.  The  new  words  should  be  but  little  in  advance  of 
the  vocabulary  of  the  pupil.  The  child  who  reads  in  a 
third  reader  uses  a  vocabulary  on  the  grade  of  the  first 
and  second  reader. 

It  is  not  to  be  hastily  assumed  that  a  large  field  of  in- 
struction may  not  be  covered  by  the  use  of  a  small  num- 
ber of  words.  Many  words  may  be  safely  left  to  take  care 
of  themselves;  many  words  present  no  orthographical 


SPELLING  173 

difficulty ;  many  derivative  words  may  be  omitted  if  a 
few  simple  rules  of  derivation  are  learned;  again,  there  are 
many  words  belonging  to  maturer  years,  easy  to  spell 
when  the  time  for  their  introduction  occurs.  The  im- 
portant consideration,  however,  is  this :  Every  rational 
teacher  knows  that  a  comparatively  limited  vocabulary 
is  the  outcome  of  the  school  course.  Subsequent  ac- 
quirements are  to  grow  out  of  a  trained  power  of 
observation.  This  means  that  the  power  of  taking  in 
the  image  of  the  word  rapidly  and  accurately  must  be 
acquired.  If  this  end  be  attained,  the  actual  vocabulary 
of  the  pupil  is  a  subordinate  matter.  He  now  has  the 
power  of  accurate  seeing. 

Here  enters  again  that  great  law  of  education  which 
Dr.  Hill  felicitously  describes  as  the  law  of  the  "gracious 
overflow."  In  teaching  one  thing,  we  unconsciously 
teach  another ;  that  is  to  say,  in  all  good  teaching  there  is 
a  tendency  to  accuracy  and  even  to  a  knowledge  that 
exists  beyond  the  thing  taught. 

An  extremely  interesting  and  curious  fact  to  be  borne 
in  mind,  a  fact  generally  forgotten,  is  this  :  most  of  the 
errors  that  children  make  are  in  words  that  they  have 
learned  through  the  ear,  not  through  the  eye.  They 
make  but  few  mistakes  in  words  that  are  first  met  in 
writing  or  in  print.  The  child  has  learned  to  speak  the 
familiar  words  before  he  saw  them  printed ;  and  when  he 
saw  the  correct  form,  it  did  not  displace  the  incorrect 
form  already  in  his  mind. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  fertile  causes  of  failure  is  our  persist- 


174  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

ence  in  spelling  in  columns.  Children  will  often  hand 
in  a  faultless  column  lesson  of  difficult  words  and  a 
dictated  paragraph  containing  words  much  easier  but 
badly  spelled.  We  should  not  forget  that  the  ultimate 
purpose  in  the  teaching  of  spelling  is  that  the  pupil  shall 
write  correctly,  not  in  columns,  but  in  paragraphs. 

Are  we  not  guilty  here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  of 
spinning  our  courses  of  study  from  our  own  heads  and 
not  from  the  facts  of  childhood  ? 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  of  all  the  blind  teaching  we 
teachers  do,  the  teaching  of  spelKng  is  the  blindest.  It  is 
empirical  in  most  cases ;  reason,  much  less  psychology, 
enters  very  Httle  into  our  methods.  We  differ  as  to 
oral  and  written  spelling,  we  differ  as  to  the  propriety  of 
dictating  words  in  sentences  or  in  columns,  and  we  differ 
as  regards  the  use  of  spelling  books  and  the  degree  of  dif- 
ficulty of  the  words  used ;  but  why  we  differ,  or  what  is  the 
psychological  basis  of  this  or  that  method  few  of  us  can 
say.  And  so  we  go  on,  and  the  product  is  bad,  and  we  are 
criticized  severely  by  the  pubhc  because  our  graduates 
"can't  speU."  My  only  hope  of  interesting  my  readers 
rests  on  inducing  teachers  to  make  a  sincere  effort  to 
apply  the  principles  of  psychology  to  facts  drawn  from 
the  schoolroom.  It  is  an  effort,  semi-scientific,  at  least, 
to  get  at  causes.  The  inferences  have  seemed  sufficiently 
important  to  warrant  me  in  radical  changes  in  method  in 
my  own  schools,  and  I  offer  these  changes  to  you,  not 
as  finalities,  but  with  the  hope  that  they  may  turn  your 
thoughts  along  somewhat  new  lines. 


SPELLING  175 

While  superintendent  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  I  sent  to 
two  classes  in  one  of  the  schools  two  extracts  to  be  dic- 
tated by  the  teachers  and  written  by  the  pupils.  The 
classes  selected  were  the  fifth  and  seventh  grades.  In  that 
city  the  first  grade  usually  represents  two  years ;  therefore, 
the  pupils  in  the  grades  tested  may  be  said  to  be  in  the 
sixth  and  eighth  years  in  school ;  i.e.  of  an  average  of 
eleven  years  in  one  class  and  thirteen  in  the  other. 

The  extracts  selected  were  the  following : 

Sixth  Year.  "Once  upon  a  time  a  man  and  his  son 
were  going  to  market,  and  they  were  leading  their  donkey 
behind  them.  They  had  not  gone  far  when  they  met  a 
farmer,  and  he  said,  'You  are  very  foohsh  to  walk  to  town 
with  that  lazy  donkey  walking  behind  you.  What  is  a 
donkey  good  for  if  not  to  ride  upon?'  'Well,  I  never 
thought  of  that,'  said  the  man,  'and  I  am  wilHng  to 
please  you ' ;  so  he  put  the  boy  on  the  donkey  and  started 
again  on  his  journey.  Soon  they  passed  some  men  on 
the  roadside.  'See  that  lazy  boy,'  said  one  of  the  men, 
'  he  rides  the  donkey  and  makes  his  poor  old  father  walk 
behind.'  When  the  man  heard  this,  he  called  to  the  boy 
and  said,  'Stop  a  minute,  let  us  see  if  we  cannot  please 
these  men.'  Then  he  told  the  boy  to  get  off,  and  mounted 
the  donkey  himself." 

Eighth  Year.  "  One  day,  a  ragged  beggar  was  creep- 
ing along  from  house  to  house.  He  carried  an  old  wallet 
in  his  hand,  and  was  asking  at  every  door  for  a  few  cents 
to  buy  something  to  eat.     As  he  was  grumbling  at  his  lot, 


176  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

he  kept  wondering  why  it  was  that  folks  who  had  lots  of 
money  were  never  satisfied,  but  were  always  wanting 
more.  ' Here  ! '  said  he,  'is  the  master  of  this  house.  He 
was  always  a  good  business  man,  and  made  himself  rich  a 
long  time  ago.  Had  he  been  wise,  he  would  have  stopped 
then.  He  would  have  turned  his  business  over  to  some 
one  else,  and  then  he  would  have  spent  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  ease.  But,  what  did  he  do  instead  ?  He  took  to 
building  ships  and  sent  them  to  sea  to  trade  with  foreign 
lands.  He  thought  that  he  would  get  mountains  of  gold; 
but  there  were  great  storms  on  the  water,  his  ships  were 
wrecked,  and  his  riches  were  swallowed  up  by  the  waves. 
Now  his  hopes  all  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  his 
great  wealth  has  vanished  like  the  dreams  of  the  night.'  " 

The  words  misspelled  were  marked  by  the  teachers  of 
the  classes  and  returned  to  me.  Avaihng  myself  of 
the  assistance  of  a  number  of  high  school  girls,  I  sub- 
jected the  papers  to  the  following  treatment : 

At  the  bottom  of  each  paper  were  written  the  words 
misspelled  in  the  paper  ;  in  each  case  the  word  correctly 
spelled  was  first  given,  and  the  incorrect  spelling  followed. 
These  records  were  afterwards  cut  into  slips  and  arranged 
alphabetically.  An  alphabetical  table  was  then  made 
out,  giving  under  each  word  its  various  misspellings.  To 
illustrate  :  "  foreign  was  spelled  in  six  different  ways,  but 
there  were  nine  cases  of  misspelling  this  word,  as  fol- 
lows: forign,  four  times;  foreigh,  forhen,  for  en,  forigen, 
for  gin,  once  each." 


SPELLING  177 

There  were  in  all  324  cases  of  misspelling,  77  words 
misspelled  and  202  forms  of  misspelling.  The  lowest 
number  of  forms  of  misspelling  was  one,  the  highest  18, 
the  latter  in  the  case  of  the  word,  journey.  There  were 
in  all  eighty  papers  examined.  No  attention  was  paid  to 
the  difference  in  grade.  After  this  preliminary  work  had 
been  completed,  and  the  matter  was  in  systematic  form, 
I  called  a  conference  of  about  thirty  intelligent  teachers, 
and  submitted  the  results  of  the  investigation.  The 
matter  was  discussed  as  thoroughly  as  the  time  permitted, 
and  some  hght  thrown  upon  the  meaning  of  the  data. 

Before  considering  the  facts  developed  and  the  infer- 
ences drawn,  a  preliminary  observation  may  be  in  order. 
It  may  be  objected  that  the  number  of  pupils  tested  was 
small.  Usually  in  child-study  investigations  a  vast  num- 
ber of  cases  are  treated.  In  answer  I  desire  to  say 
that  some  of  the  lessons  that  I  have  drawn  from  the 
investigations  are  overwhelmingly  indicated  in  the  field 
covered,  and  I  do  not  think  that  a  wider  field  would 
reverse  these  conclusions.  Regarding  certain  other 
conclusions  found  in  this  paper,  I  admit  the  paucity  of 
data.  In  my  own  mind  these  latter  conclusions  are 
clearly  indicated,  although,  of  course,  not  fully  proven. 
The  investigation  must,  of  course,  be  regarded  as  experi- 
mental or  preliminary.  I  might  add,  however,  that  in 
widening  the  field  we  meet  complications,  and  introduce 
other  considerations  whose  influence  should  not  be  lost 
in  the  mass,  but  should  be  estimated  separately.  For 
instance,  the  school  investigated  was  located  in  one  of 


178  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

the  best  portions  of  the  city,  and  was  composed  of 
children  of  American  parentage.  Suppose  I  had  mixed 
with  the  results  I  have  obtained  those  drawn  from 
sections  where  the  foreign  population  is  in  the  ascendant. 
I  think  my  results  would  have  been  confusing.  The 
foreign  children  should  be  examined  by  themselves. 
They  offer  evidence  of  two  kinds :  First,  evidence  cor- 
roborating inferences  drawn  from  other  quarters;  this 
evidence  is  just  as  valuable,  considered  separately,  as  if 
it  had  been  drawn  from  a  mass  of  mixed  data :  Second, 
foreign  localities  teach  a  lesson  pecuharly  their  own,  and 
this  we  cannot  afford  to  lose  by  mixing  the  data.  Be- 
sides, in  the  investigation  of  spelling  do  we  not  first  need 
to  know  the  difficulties  that  the  native-born  population 
finds;  and  second,  those  that  the  foreign  encounters? 
The  former  are  essential  errors,  often,  perhaps  inherent 
in  the  language.  The  special  difficulties  of  the  foreigners 
are  inherent  in  the  foreigner. 

The  disclosures  of  the  investigation  may  be  approached 
in  a  rather  interesting  way  by  taking  a  few  words  and 
observing  the  various  forms  of  misspeUing.  I  shall  begin 
with  the  word,  journey.  On  this  word  the  pupils  ex- 
pended the  wealth  of  their  ingenuity.  I  could  not  have 
invented  so  many  speUings  myself.  I  give  the  entire  list : 
jorney,  journy,  jerney,  gerney,  jornay,  jeirnie,  jernary, 
gourney,  journei,  jurony,  jorney,  yourney,  jouery,  jer,  ji, 
jou.  Let  us  consider  this  list  in  some  detail.  It  gives,  as 
will  be  seen  later,  a  conspectus  of  nearly  the  whole  field. 

There  are  18  of  these  speUings,  and  the  first  13  are 


SPELLING  179 

founded  on  aural  percepts ;  that  is  to  say,  the  ear  has 
determined  the  wrong  spelling.  Of  these  13  forms  some 
are  repeated  by  more  than  one  pupil,  thus :  jorney  is 
given  5  times;  the  13  forms,  in  fact,  represent  22  mis- 
takes. There  were  27  mistakes  altogether  in  the  spelling 
of  journey.  Therefore,  almost  82  per  cent  (22  out  of  27) 
of  the  mistakes  were  ear  mistakes.  I  mean  that  in  such 
mistakes  the  boy  had  a  percept  of  the  sound  "  journey  " 
and  that  he  translated  the  sound  into  writing  in  his  own 
way,  and  there  were  13  different  ways.  These  pupils  had 
seen  the  word  "  journey  "  many  times;  but  they  had  also 
heard  it  many  times,  and  it  was  the  aural  percept  that 
dominated.  Probably  they  had  written  the  word  jour- 
ney in  spelHng  lessons,  and  had  been  corrected  and  made 
to  spell  it  right.  All  futile:  the  sound  of  the  word 
determined  the  spelling  in  accordance  with  the  boy's 
views  of  orthographical  combinations.  I  should  like  to 
give  out  the  same  exercises  to  the  same  pupils  again. 
The  same  pupils  would  probably  spell  journey  wrong 
again,  and  in  accordance  with  the  phonetic  laws;  but 
would  they  the  second  time  adopt  the  same  wrong 
spelling  ? 

I  may  as  well  say  here  that  the  whole  investigation 
clearly  indicates  this  law :  viz.  that  the  sound  is  the 
dominating  element  in  children's  spelling.  I  might 
give  many  illustrations,  but  one  must  suffice :  foolish 
is  spelled  foullosh,  fulish,  foulies,  folish,  Jollish,  foulish, 
fourshil,  furlash. 

Now,  what  does  this  teach  ?    In  my  opinion  it  teaches 


l8o  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

this,  at  least,  —  that  spelling  cannot  be  taught  by  writing 
alone.  When  a  boy  write?,  jerney,  that  visual  percept  sat- 
isfies his  view  of  the  facts  of  the  case,  of  course,  and  I  wish 
you  to  mark  this  statement :  he  does  not  see  it  to  be  wrong. 
But  when  the  word  is  corrected  at  the  end  of  the  lesson, 
does  not  that  fix  the  proper  spelling  ?  Not  always.  The 
wrong  form  has  been  associated  with  the  sound,  and  the 
association  has  not  been  broken.  Why  ?  First,  because 
of  the  interval  that  elapses  between  the  writing  and  the 
correction.  The  correction  should  be  made  instantly, 
with  a  shock,  as  it  were,  and  this  can  be  done  only  in  oral 
spelling.  Second,  the  association  must  be  broken  not 
once,  but  many  times,  if  it  is  to  be  completely  demoHshed. 
Now  oral  spelling  has  greatly  the  advantage  of  written 
spelHng  in  this  respect.  You  can  spell  a  word  one 
hundred  times  orally  while  you  are  writing  it  ten  times. 
Rapid  oral  spelling  bears  the  same  relation  to  written 
spelling  that  rapid  mental  arithmetic  does  to  written 
arithmetic.  In  my  judgment  the  oral  spelling  should 
always  both  precede  and  follow  the  written  spelling. 

In  my  case  this  means  a  complete  overturning  of  my 
previous  notions.  For  many  years  I  had  argued  in  this 
way:  spelling  is  used  only  in  writing;  therefore  the 
visual  picture  of  the  word  alone  is  of  consequence. 
Therefore  spelling  should  be  taught  exclusively  by  writing 
and  in  sentences.  During  the  last  few  years,  to  be  sure, 
I  had  been  weakening  on  this  theory ;  but  because  I  could 
not  see  that  my  theory  was  turning  out  good  spellers 
rather  than  because  I  saw  flaws  in  the  theory.     But  the 


SPELLING  l8l 

overwhelming  evidence  presented  by  this  investigation 
reduces  the  matter  in  my  mind  to  a  certainty.  The 
psychology  of  the  written  method  is  incontestable,  but 
hard  oral  drill  is  evidently  suggested  by  the  predominance 
of  ear-mindedness,  indicated  in  the  present  investigation. 

Let  me,  in  discussing  this  question  of  ear-mindedness, 
call  your  attention  to  some  subordinate  considerations 
under  the  same  general  heading.  They  seem  to  me  to  be 
of  great  importance,  and  to  throw  a  bright  light  on  the 
relation  of  oral  to  written  spelHng, 

First,  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  not  only  do  pupils 
know  the  sound  of  journey,  but  that  some  of  them  know 
it  wrong:  e.g.  note  jorney.  The  pupil  who  wrote  this 
probably  pronounces  it  with  a  long  o. 

Take  the  word  swallowed.  I  give  the  forms  written  by 
the  pupils.  Swalloed,  swolloed,  swolid,  swolled,  sallowed, 
swalled.  Note  that  the  boy  who  wrote  swalloed  has  the 
correct  sound,  and  yet  he  wrote  it  wrong;  but  the  boy  who 
wrote  swolid  did  not  even  have  the  correct  sound ;  and  he 
must  write  it  wrong.  The  latter  fact  is  true  of  the  writers 
of  swolled  (four  boys),  and  swalled.  To  proceed  with 
a  spelling  lesson  when  everybody  has  the  correct  pro- 
nunciation of  the  words  does  not  always  result  in  accurate 
spelling,  as  has  been  already  suggested ;  but  to  proceed, 
as  many  teachers  do,  without  being  sure  of  the  pronuncia- 
tion, is  surely  unwise.  Take  wondrously,  spelled  three 
times  wonderously  and  once  wondersly.  Do  not  these  rep- 
resent wrong  aural  percepts  to  start  with  ? 

Again,  still  considering  ear-mindedness,  the  investiga- 


I 82  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

tion  indicates  the  interesting  fact  that  certain  pupils 
attach  certain  phonetic  power  to  certain  letters  or  com- 
binations of  letters.  Thus,  returning  to  journey,  in 
gerney  and  gourney  this  is  the  explanation  of  g,  and  in 
jeirnie  of  ie  and  probably  of  ei ;  in  the  spelling  creap- 
ing,  note  ea,  and  creping,  e;  etc.  Now  this  trouble  is 
inherent  in  our  language,  and  presents  formidable  diffi- 
culties. We  have  few  rules,  and  they  do  not  help  us  very 
much.  For  instance,  take  the  rule :  g  is  soft  before  e. 
Well,  then,  what  is  wrong  with  gerney?  We  certainly 
spell  germane. 

I  call  your  attention  to  this  suggestion :  These  wrong 
views  on  phonetics  are  probably  individual  with  each 
pupil ;  they  are  idiosyncrasies.  This  is  very  important  if 
true.  A  little  investigation,  even  notes  taken  from  time 
to  time,  will  reveal  the  tendencies  of  individual  children  in 
this  matter  and  enable  the  teacher  to  anticipate  what  the 
child  will  do,  and  to  prevent  his  writing  the  wrong  letter, 
not  only  in  journey,  but  whenever  soft  g  is  suggested. 
Thus,  "We  have  journey  in  to-day's  lesson.  With  what 
letter  does  it  commence?"  "With  slj,"  says  the  ma- 
jority. "With  a  g,"  say  a  few.  "Now  let  us  look," 
says  the  teacher.  But  note  that  this  method  of  procedure 
is  oral.  It  has  to  do  with  an  aural  percept,  and  contem- 
plates the  immediate  aural  correction  of  incorrect  aural 
percepts.  I  insist  on  immediateness  of  correction.  To 
wait  an  hour  will  not  do.  And  I  insist  on  the  first  ap- 
proach being  made  through  the  ear,  for  it  is  the  ear-mind, 
if  you  will  allow  me  the  expression,  that  is  in  error. 


SPELLING  183 

Again,  one  of  the  interesting  and  amusing  facts  con- 
cerning this  matter  of  ear-mindedness  is  the  contempt 
that  children  have  for  unnecessary  letters. 

Mark  Twain  once  expressed  his  admiration  of  a  young 
lady  who,  in  a  word  game,  spelt  caj  for  calf.  He  argued 
a  certain  directness"  going  straight  to  the  point,  in  the 
young  lady's  make-up.  And  there  is  as  much  wisdom 
as  wit  in  the  story.  It  is  our  spelling  that  is  irrational, 
and  it  is  the  bad  speller  that  is  rational.  My  investiga- 
tion, of  course,  offers  many  illustrations  of  the  tendency 
that  I  am  discussing.  Thus,  note  journey :  (What  is  the 
use  of  the  e  ?)  Jurny :  (What  is  the  use  of  the  0  ?)  Foks 
for  folks,  sloped  for  stopped,  reck  for  wreck,  etc.  In 
the  word  swallowed  there  were  ten  misspellings,  and 
in  only  two  of  these  did  the  last  w  occur. 

In  leaving  this  question  of  ear-mindedness,  may  I 
not  suggest  an  explanation  for  the  well-known  fact 
that  children  spell  unusual  words  well,  and  familiar 
words  incorrectly  ?  The  unusual  words  have  never  been 
used  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  an  aural  percept.  The 
percept  is  visual,  and  therefore  correctly  written.  But 
the  child  has  learned  to  speak  the  familiar  words  before 
he  saw  them  printed,  and  when  he  saw  the  correct  form, 
it  did  not  displace  the  incorrect  form  already  in  the  mind. 

An  interesting  psychological  inquiry  is  this,  and  I 
earnestly  urge  it  on  your  attention :  Does  there  lie  in 
some  corner  of  each  child's  mind  a  visual  percept  that 
is  the  constant  translation  of  the  aural  percept  of  the 
word    the   child    knows  — jerney,   for    instance  ?    And 


1 84  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

when  he  transfers  this  percept  to  paper,  can  he  write 
anything  else  ?  Adults  are  often  in  doubt  as  to  the 
spelling  of  a  word  ;  but  with  regard  to  familiar  words,  at 
least,  the  child  is  in  no  doubt ;  he  writes  caf  with  an 
insouciance  that  is  simply  delightful.  If  these  visual 
images  do  subconsciously  exist,  notice  how  they  persist 
year  after  year  in  spite  of  all  your  teaching.  If  they 
do  exist,  why  not  acknowledge  their  existence,  expect 
them,  and  combat  them  first  and  last  through  the  ap- 
proach by  which  the  image  entered  the  mind,  viz.  the 
ear  ?  To  blame  or  reproach  a  child  for  such  errors  is  like 
blaming  him  for  being  left-handed. 

I  dismiss,  for  the  present,  the  question  of  ear-minded- 
ness,  and  come  to  a  class  of  errors  that  clearly  arise,  at 
least  in  part,  from  visual  aberrations.  My  word  journey 
does  not  help  me  here,  and  this,  of  itself,  is  an  interesting 
fact,  as  I  shall  presently  show.  Let  us  take  the  word 
foreign.  I  give  the  spellings:  forign  (4  tim.es),  for eigh, 
forhen,  foren,  forigien,  forgen.  Now,  several  of  these 
spelHngs  are  entirely  or  practically  phonetic.  Notice 
foren.  But  on  the  other  hand  notice  the  letter  g  occurring 
in  every  spelling  but  two,  i.e.  in  78  per  cent  of  the  cases. 
In  the  last  spelling, /orgew,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  there 
was  any  aural  percept  at  all.  The  g  shows  that  the  eye 
has  been  active  in  every  case  but  two ;  just  as  the  last  w 
was  left  out  in  swalloed,  where  the  ear  was  concerned,  the 
g  is  studiously  put  in  where  the  eye  is  concerned.  The  pu- 
pil does  not  know  how  to  spell  foreign,  but  he  knows  that 
there  is  a  g  in  it  somewhere.     Take  the  word  minute.     I 


SPELLING  185 

have  20  misspellings,  taking  17  forms.  Now  the  phonetic 
errors  given  are  these :  minuet,  minuete,  minnote,  menat, 
minet,  minete.  But  on  the  other  hand,  consider  these, 
remembering  that  from  the  child's  point  of  view  the 
letter  u  is  the  unreasonable  part  of  the  word.  Minutt, 
mintue,  mint,  minunt,  miniit,  minuate.  In  some  of  these 
spellings  the  phonetic  principle  has  also  something  to  do, 
but  the  eccentric  dancing  around  of  that  letter  w  is  a 
purely  visual  matter. 

Consider  the  two  words  minute  and  foreign  together. 
Certain  pecuUarities  are  observable  when  they  are  con- 
trasted. Minute  is  a  common  word,  and  therefore 
there  was  a  previous  image  corresponding  to  the  sound. 
But  the  printed  or  written  word  was  outre  as  far  as  the  u 
was  concerned,  and  hence  arose  errors  that  are  not 
phonetic.  Foreign  is  not  a  word  for  the  child's  vocab- 
ulary; it  is  purely  visual,  and  hence  the  phonetic 
element  enters  very  little  into  the  misspelling.  Notice 
also  that  there  were  only  9  misspellings  of  foreign,  while 
there  were  20  of  minute.  Of  course,  foreign  had  no 
original  settler  to  expel,  and  minute  had;  and  in  20 
cases  the  original  settler,  you  see,  held  his  ground. 

I  think  this  argument  indicates  that  we  need  not 
fear  the  unusual  words  nor  the  danger  of  wrong  percepts 
obtained  visually.  The  fight  must  be  made  on  familiar 
words,  where  aural  percepts  are  concerned,  for,  as  I  have 
already  said,  it  is  a  fight  to  gain  territory  already  occupied 
by  obstinate  residents.  With  reference  to  the  class  of 
words   typified   by   the   word   foreign,  it   is   merely   a 


I 86  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

question  of  learning,  but  the  learning  of  the  words 
typified  by  journey  means  the  unlearning  of  an  alien 
language. 

Teachers  generally  make  their  spelling  lessons  out  of  the 
unusual  words,  and  every  day  violate  the  principle  for 
which  I  am  now  contending.  Spelling  books  almost 
unanimously  offer  words  unusual  to  the  child.  I  almost 
think  that  if  we  taught  the  child's  own  vocabulary  well, 
we  could  leave  the  new  words  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
When  the  child  wants  to  use  a  new  word,  he  can  be 
taught  to  look  up  the  spelling,  as  you  and  I  do.  We 
waste  time  in  teaching  spelling  as  we  teach  it. 

I  now  desire  to  touch  a  galaxy  of  errors  that  cannot 
be  classified  under  either  of  the  headings,  ear-mindedness 
or  eye-mindedness.  At  first  sight  they  seem  to  be  mat- 
ters of  invention.     Some  of  them  are  rather  interesting. 

First,  note  that  peculiarity  among  children  of  putting 
in  letters  that  have  no  force  in  the  sound  of  the  word. 
Minent  and  minth,  for  minute ;  jernary  for  journey ; 
midt  for  met ;  pasend  and  pasted  for  passed,  crepiing  for 
creeping ;  handing  for  leading ;  satisfided  for  satisfied. 

What  do  these  mean  ?  I  have  gone  over  several  of 
these  errors  thoughtfully.  I  cannot  say  that  I  can  offer 
anything  conclusive,  but  two  or  three  suggestions  seem  to 
arise  from  the  consideration. 

First:  The  trouble  may  be  that  the  child  is  of  foreign 
birth  or  parentage.  For  instance,  final  th  means  / 
to  a  German.  If  you  know  the  pupil  to  be  foreign,  you 
may  have  the  key. 


SPELLING  187 

Second:  In  not  a  few  cases  where  the  pupil  was  un- 
certain about  a  word,  while  he  was  thinking  he  found  him- 
self compelled  to  hurry  on  because  the  teacher  was  dictat- 
ing a  new  sentence.  Some  prominent  sound  or  letter 
in  the  word,  as  r  in  journey,  dominated  and  went  down 
on  the  paper  because  the  faculties  were  not  acting 
normally,  e.g.  elese  for  else.  Sometimes  a  sound  or  letter 
belonging  to  another  word  in  the  sentence  was  dominant, 
and  introduced  itself  into  the  word  being  written. 

Third:  I  fmd  the  process  of  association  very  active  in 
writing.  In  the  instances  given,  note  crepting,  leanding, 
and  minth.  Think  of  the  actual  words  crept,  lend  and 
month.  I  do  not  say  that  these  words  were  in  the  child's 
mind,  but  I  have  a  Httle  evidence  to  show  that  they 
might  have  been.  The  investigation  offers  a  number  of 
instances  in  which  other  good  English  words  were  actually 
used  for  those  dictated,  the  new  words  making  no  sense 
whatever,  and  yet  leaving  me  entirely  sure  that  the  new 
word  had  taken  the  place  of  the  old  one.  Take  a  few 
illustrations.  Wrecked  was  spelled  wreathed  and  wretched. 
This  is  not  a  case  of  misspelling.  It  is  an  actual  in- 
trusion of  a  new  word  in  the  place  of  the  word  dictated. 
Now,  when  minth  was  written  for  minute,  might  not 
month  have  intruded  itself  in  the  same  way  ?  To  give 
other  illustrations  :  Were  was  spelled  where  and  was,  and 
make  was  used  for  made.  In  many  other  cases,  while 
the  intrusion  is  not  so  clearly  indicated,  there  is  room 
to  suppose  that  there  was  such  an  intrusion.  In  such 
cases,  at  least,  we  cannot  be  sure  that  the  child  did  not 


I 88  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

know  how  to  spell  the  word,  as  when  he  spelled  far  titer 
for  father.  I  think  in  this  case,  that  he  knew  how  to 
spell  father,  but  the  word  farther  got  into  his  mind. 
Children  run  off  on  tangents  very  easily,  and  many  so- 
called  errors  in  spelling  are  tangential  errors. 

Fourth:  Certain  letters  tend  to  intrude  themselves 
with  certain  children.  T  is  a  very  intrusive  letter.  Why 
do  people  say  onect?  I  have  on  my  list  pasted  for  passed, 
wonderestly  for  wondrously,  and  kiting  for  leading.  I 
knew  a  little  girl  who  invariably  put  in  an  n  after  ay,  as : 
"What  was  he  sayning?"  and  "I  was  playning."  I 
think  that  these  may  be  called  idiosyncrasies,  and  should 
be  treated  as  such.  Similar  considerations  apply  to  the 
substitution  of  letters,  as  when  mourted  was  written  for 
mounted. 

I  pause  here  to  direct  your  attention  as  forcibly  as  I 
can  to  this  fact  applying  to  the  present  section  of  this 
discussion.  It  is  its  practical  outcome.  Such  errors  as  we 
are  now  considering  are  not  errors  in  spelling  at  all ;  that 
is  to  say,  they  do  not  indicate  that  the  child  does  not 
know.  They  arise  from  haste  or  from  the  domination  of 
an  associated  idea.  The  teacher  should  not  correct  such 
errors,  but  should  permit  the  child  to  discover  them  him- 
self by  reading  over  his  papers  several  times,  until  he  finds 
them ;  much  less  should  the  pupil  lose  marks  for  them. 
It  is  unjust  to  say  the  boy  does  not  know  how  to  spell 
when  he  has  written  mourted.  Give  him  a  chance  to 
correct  his  own  paper,  and  see  if  this  is  not  so. 

But  how  few  teachers  seem  to  know  this !    There  is  only 


SPELLING  189 

one  fact  in  their  minds  when  they  correct  a  spelling 
paper,  and  that  is  that  the  word  was  spelled  wrong.  Let 
me  enforce  the  lesson  I  am  now  trying  to  teach  by  the 
consideration  of  a  few  more  errors,  kindred  to  those  just 
considered,  to  which  the  practical  statements  I  have 
just  made  apply  with  equal  force. 

There  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  children  to  leave  out 
letters.  I  have  many  illustrations  in  my  table  of  errors. 
We  are  so  familiar  with  this  in  our  own  writing  that  we 
should  not  be  surprised.  In  our  case  it  is  not  because 
we  do  not  know,  nor  is  it  necessarily  so  in  the  child's 
case.  It  is  the  result  of  other  causes ;  some  of  which 
have  been  referred  to,  which  affect  the  manual  act  of 
writing.  Here,  again,  the  child  should  be  permitted  to 
find  his  own  error,  and  should  not  be  treated  as  if  he  did 
not  know  his  lesson.  The  same  argument  and  suggestion 
should  be  made  again  in  cases  in  which  a  child  has  in- 
verted letters,  a.5Junioy  for  journey. 

So  also  must  we  regard  the  substitution  of  the  singular 
for  the  plural ;  as  ship  for  ships,  or  the  opposite ;  the 
putting  in  of  another  part  of  the  verb,  as  send  for  sending ; 
the  use  of  one  word  for  another,  as  then  for  them,  the  for 
they,  though  for  thought.  They  are  not  errors  in 
spelling ;  or  they  may  not  be  :  at  least  the  pupil  ought  to 
have  the  same  privilege  that  we  enjoy  in  our  corre- 
spondence, the  privilege  of  reading  it  over  to  himself  one 
or  more  times. 

Permit  me,  for  a  moment  only,  to  call  your  attention  to 
a  class  of  very  peculiar,  but  interesting,  errors  which 


I go  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

deserve  a  similar  treatment.  I  refer  to  those  cases  in 
which  the  word  is  not  spelled  at  all.  Take  these  spellings 
for  journey :  jer,  ji,  jou.  Now,  perhaps  the  child  did  not 
have  time  for  consideration,  or  was  nervous.  The 
state  of  mind  may  be  similar  to  that  already  described 
in  the  paragraph  in  which  I  have  tried  to  show  why  a 
boy  put  in  an  extra  letter.  Here  again  the  child  should 
be  permitted  to  correct  his  own  errors  by  reading  over  his 
own  paper.  It  is  not  wise  to  infer  from  this  kind  of  error 
that  the  child  does  not  know. 

The  charge  is  made  against  some  child-study  investiga- 
tions that  they  traverse  a  great  area  to  discover  what 
was  known  before.  That  may  be  the  case  in  the  present 
investigation.  Whether  it  is  or  not,  I  am  certain  of  this, 
that  the  inferences  to  which  I  have  been  inviting  your 
attention  represent  principles  that  are  every  day  violated 
by  thousands  of  teachers.  The  following  inferences  seem 
to  me  to  be  reasonable. 

First:  I  call  attention  to  the  broad  inference  from  this 
investigation,  that  the  criticism  of  spelling  should  be 
analytical.  Errors  in  spelling  differ  in  kind,  and  they 
differ  as  to  their  origin,  and  they  demand  varying  tj^Des 
of  treatment.  But,  in  practice,  there  is  no  analysis  in  the 
treatment  of  spelling.  The  teacher  recognizes  the  fact 
that  seven  words  out  of  the  fifty  are  wrong,  and  she 
recognizes  no  other  fact.  But  the  seven  errors  may  each 
require  special  treatment.  It  has  been  shown  that  some 
errors  are  not  errors  in  spelling  at  all.  They  are  errors  of 
nervousness,  mental  tricks,  or  merely  errors  of  writing,  as 


SPELLING  191 

when  a  boy  spelled  journey  for  journey.  Furthermore, 
the  pupil  should  be  permitted  to  discover  his  own  errors 
in  many  cases.  Such  errors  as  he  can  discover  should 
not  be  marked  against  him.  Again,  the  error  may  be  in 
the  percept  of  the  sound  of  the  word,  or  it  may  be  that  the 
sound  and  a  certain  spelling  are  so  closely  associated  that 
hard  knocks  are  necessary  to  break  the  connection ;  or 
the  child  may  be  in  error  as  to  the  phonetic  force  of 
certain  letters  and  combinations  of  letters ;  or  he  may 
have  idiosyncrasies  regarding  spelling  that  require  in- 
dividual treatment ;   or,  finally,  the  eye  may  be  at  fault. 

Of  course  all  this  means  fewer  dictation  exercises 
and  more  detailed  and  analytical  consideration  of  such 
exercises.  The  present  plan  of  many  exercises  and  a 
superficial  correction  evidently  does  little  good.  I  think 
it  may  be  shown  that  it  even  strengthens  certain  wrong 
tendencies. 

Second:  The  importance  of  a  larger  amount  of  oral 
work  in  spelling  ought  to  be  apparent,  for  by  far  the 
larger  portion  of  the  errors  arise  from  false  percepts 
derived  through  sound.  I  have  already  called  attention 
to  the  probability  of  there  existing  subconsciously  in 
the  child's  mind  a  visual  percept,  which  is  the  translation 
of  the  child's  aural  percept  of  a  word.  Note  carefully 
that  this  relation  between  the  false  percept  and  the 
sound  is  probably  individual  and  is  intimate  beyond 
belief.  It  takes  a  convulsion  to  separate  them.  The 
sound  journey  and  the  spelling  jernie  have  been  friends 
a  good  while.    Do  you  think  that  one  friend  is  going  to 


192  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

abandon  another  just  because  you  introduce  a  new  one, 
a  little  prettier  ?  By  no  means.  We  make  our  bow  to 
journey:  "Happy  to  know  you;  be  pleased  to  meet 
you  again,"  and  we  go  traveling  off  with  jernie  just  the 
same.  You  must  utterly  destroy  the  connection  before 
you  can  establish  a  new  one.  This  means  a  running 
fight  with  the  false  percept  —  not  one  fight,  but  many ; 
and  this  means  much  oral  work,  covering,  mark  you,  a 
limited  area.  It  also  means  the  correction  of  the  error 
the  instant  it  shows  itself.  It  will  not  do  to  wait. 
Here  again,  ample  oral  drill  is  demanded.  The  dicta- 
tion exercise  is  important,  but  only  as  a  test  of  the 
success  of  your  oral  drill.  Of  course  I  am  here  re- 
ferring only  to  sound  errors. 

Third:  We  are  not  to  forget  that  the  ultimate  purpose 
in  the  teaching  of  spelling  is  that  the  pupil  shall  write 
correctly ;  not  in  columns,  but  in  paragraphs.  The  oral 
drill  and  the  column  work  must  be  considered  not  as 
ends  in  themselves,  but  in  view  of  practical  writing. 
Teachers  are  perfectly  familiar  with  the  fact  that  pu- 
pils will  write  the  column  lesson  much  better  than  the 
dictation  lesson.  But  success  in  the  latter  is  the  only 
true  success,  and  must,  of  course,  be  made  the  standard  of 
attainment.  The  word  drill  and  the  column  drill  must 
be  manipulated  for  the  most  part  to  prepare  for  the 
paragraph  work  or  to  correct  the  errors  found  therein. 

Fourth:  Note  the  great  preponderance  of  what  I 
have  called  sound  errors,  indicated  in  this  investigation 
and  note  also  that  these  errors  have  to  do  almost  ex- 


SPELLING  193 

clusively  with  familiar  words ;  i.e.  with  the  child's  own 
vocabulary.  This  means  that  if  we  can  extirpate  such 
errors,  we  have  largely  cleared  up  the  child's  bad  spelhng. 
Why  not  do  this  ?  Why  go  on  endeavoring  to  teach  a  new 
vocabulary  and  leave  this  mass  of  inaccuracy  behind  us  ? 
I  believe  that  such  a  course  of  procedure  is  in  the  highest 
degree  illogical.  Yet  it  is  the  course  followed  by  most 
teachers.  I  have  already  touched  on  this  subject,  but  lay 
special  emphasis  on  it  at  this  point  with  a  view  toward 
making  a  practical  suggestion  or  two.  Any  observant 
teacher  can,  within  a  year,  make  a  list  of  words  that  are 
actually  used  by  her  pupils,  and  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  used  incorrectly.  This  is  her  most  valuable 
spelling  book.  I  do  not  mean  that  no  other  spelhng 
books  may  be  used;  but  their  use  must  be  subordinate, 
and  they  should  be  used,  not  to  teach  spelhng,  mark  you, 
but  to  increase  the  vocabulary. 

But  regarding  the  increase  of  the  child's  vocabulary,  a 
word  of  caution  is  necessary.  Few  of  us  reahze  how 
very  small  is  the  possible  daily  or  weekly  increase  in  the 
child's  knowledge  in  any  hne.  This  is  especially  true 
with  regard  to  language.  No  child  can  add  to  his  vocab- 
ulary one  tenth  of  the  number  of  new  words  that  many 
teachers  put  in  a  spelhng  lesson.  Two,  three,  or  at  the 
most  five,  is  a  large  daily  increment.  Try  it  yourself  in 
the  learning  of  a  new  language ;  German,  for  instance.  If 
this  be  true,  the  necessity  for  any  large  use  of  the  spelhng 
book  disappears,  and  the  drih  falls  back  on  the  child's  own 
vocabulary.    When  teachers  grasp  these  two  correlated 


194  BETTER    SCHOOLS 

essentials,  first,  drill  on  the  child's  own  vocabulary, 
second,  a  very  small  daily  increment  to  that  vocabulary, 
accuracy  in  spelling  will  result.  In  other  words,  when 
we  stop  trying  to  do  so  much,  we  shall  succeed  in  doing 
more. 

I  add  a  suggestion  which  is  a  logical  corollary  to  what 
I  have  already  offered.  The  increase  in  the  child's 
vocabulary  must  be  for  use  in  that  vocabulary  and 
subject  to  subsequent  drill.  Therefore,  the  words  must 
be  easy.  This  principle  is  violated  by  most  courses  of 
study,  and  therefore  by  most  teachers.  The  child  who 
reads  in  a  third  reader  uses  a  vocabulary  on  the  grade  of 
a  first  or  second  reader.  The  fourth-reader  pupil's  own 
vocabulary  is  scarcely  above  that  of  the  second  reader. 
Here  is  the  indication  for  the  spelling  lesson  so  far  as  the 
new  words  are  concerned.  The  words  given  out  in  our 
spelling  lessons  are  far  too  difficult. 

Fifth :  I  claim  that  children  should  correct  most  of 
their  own  errors.  Not  only  so,  but  they  should  find  many 
of  them  without  any  help  from  the  teacher.  The  blue 
pencil  is  used  far  too  much.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to 
note  that  the  pupils  probably  will  not  be  able  to  find  the 
sound  errors  at  first.  Jernie  will  not  arrest  the  child's 
attention.  It  looks  perfectly  natural.  Faring  for  foreign 
will  arrest  his  attention,  for  he  is  not  sure  about  foreign, 
and  he  will  consult  the  dictionary.  But  he  is  sure  about 
jernie,  and  passes  on.  When  jernie  does  arrest  his  atten- 
tion, then  you  have  broken  the  association. 

Let  the  child  do  all  that  he  can  for  himself  before  you 


SPELLING  195 

interfere.     Then  apply  your  skill  on  the  residual  errors, 
and  apply  your  skill  skillfully. 

Sixth:  Finally,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  moral 
phase  of  the  problem.  The  right  of  children  to  help 
themselves,  just  discussed,  is  indeed  a  moral  considera- 
tion, but  there  is  another  and  a  very  serious  one.  You 
remember  my  claim  that  many  errors  are  not  spelling 
errors.  They  do  not  mean  that  the  child  cannot  spell 
the  word.  They  mean  that  he  was  nervous,  or,  as  I 
have  said  before,  that  his  mind  played  him  a  trick,  or  else 
that  he  needed  time  for  consideration.  Now,  when  you 
mark  ten  words  wrong,  and  six  errors  are  of  this  char- 
acter, you  are  unjust  as  well  as  unwise,  for  there  are  also 
errors  that  are  pure  carelessness,  or  that  indicate  willful 
lack  of  study.  In  one  set  of  cases  the  child  has  not 
tried,  and  in  the  other  he  has  tried.  By  your  process  you 
make  no  distinctions.  You  hold  the  child  up  for  un- 
pleasant criticisms,  and  make  unjust  comparisons.  Per- 
haps the  child  indicates  no  sense  of  injustice,  but  try  the 
role  of  justice,  and  see  how  quickly  he  responds.  "Some 
of  you  were  hurried  and  wrote  words  that  you  didn't 
mean  to  write.  Now,  look  over  your  papers,  and  I  know 
you  can  correct  many  errors.  I  do  not  want  to  take 
any  advantage  of  you."  Very  gladly  the  normally  con- 
stituted child  hands  in  his  improved  paper.  Now,  you 
can  say,  "You  have  only  two  errors,"  and  that  is  more 
stimulating  than  to  say,  "  You  had  eight  errors."  Try 
this  plan,  for  a  few  weeks,  and  then  go  back  to  the  old 
way  and  see  if  the  child  is  not  conscious  of  injustice.    The 


196  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

only  reason  he  was  not  conscious  before,  was,  that  he 
did  not  know  that  there  was  any  other  way.  It  pays  to 
be  just,  even  in  spelhng. 

But  this  moral  question  has  one  other  phase.  I  am 
very  fond  of  Froebel's  claim  that  there  is  no  true  educa- 
tion where  the  child  is  not  made  conscious  of  power.  And 
Froebel  distinctly  means  power.  He  is  to  be  made 
conscious  of  power;  he  is  not  to  be  made  conscious 
of  failure.  What  does  the  teacher  generally  do? 
He  emphasizes  failure.  It  is  a  mistake.  Emphasize 
success,  emphasize  power.  By  recognizing  the  child's 
abihty  to  correct  many  of  his  errors,  we  emphasize  power. 
By  holding  up  a  long  list  of  errors  we  discourage  him ; 
or,  putting  it  more  forcibly,  we  evolve  consciousness  of 
defeat.  Give  the  child  a  chance,  and  then  say,  "Well 
done,  you  had  only  one  error  to-day,  and  I  can  see  how  you 
made  that,  and  I  know  you  will  not  make  it  again  after 
you  understand  it,"  etc.  Take  my  word  for  it,  there  is 
always  a  response  to  this  kind  of  treatment.  Do  not  be 
so  fond  of  the  blue  pencil,  or,  if  you  must  use  it,  use  it  to 
mark  the  words  written  correctly,  and  then  the  blue  will 
be  on  the  paper  and  not  in  the  child. 

I  hope  that  my  readers  will  continue  to  investigate  the 
causes  of  wrong  spelHng,  and  the  condition  related  to  it, 
so  that  better  methods  of  teaching  the  subject  may  be 
discovered. 


CHAPTER  XV 
Language 

The  most  discouraging  subject  in  the  whole  school 
curriculum  is  that  known  as  language  —  the  English 
language.  The  demands  made  on  the  child  are  simple ; 
merely  that  he  express  himself  orally  and  on  paper, 
accurately  and  freely.  It  is  not  demanded  of  him  that 
he  express  great  thoughts,  but  simple,  everyday  thoughts. 
In  a  word,  it  is  demanded  that  he  be  able  to  convey  to 
others  what  he  has  in  his  mind.  For  this  we  give  him 
eight  or  nine  years,  not  to  speak  of  the  high  school.  What 
are  the  results  ? 

They  are  most  unsatisfactory.  I  speak  of  the  country 
as  a  whole.  About  thirty  years  ago  a  mighty  revolution 
in  the  teaching  of  EngHsh  swept  the  country.  It  was 
mainly  a  revolt  against  instruction  in  technical  grammar, 
and  a  demand  for  direct  instruction  in  langage  by  simply 
giving  the  children  plenty  of  English  to  write.  The 
revolution  spent  its  force,  and  its  outcome  was  beneficent. 
We  paid  more  intelligent  attention  to  getting  results,  and 
on  the  whole  there  was  improvement  in  the  use  of  English. 
But  the  improvement  fell  so  far  short  of  any  reasonable 
standard  of  good  writing,  that  it  may  be  described  as 
inconsequential. 

197 


198  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

The  outcome  of  language  teaching  Is  unsatisfactory 
almost  everywhere.  The  result  of  eight  or  nine  years  of 
persistent  instruction  is  pitiful.  The  high  school  is 
emphatic  in  its  condemnation  of  the  results.  It  matters 
not  that  the  remedies  suggested  by  the  high  school 
teachers  are  utterly  inappropriate  and  inadequate,  and 
it  matters  not  that  the  high  school  does  little  better  with 
the  material  received  than  the  elementary  schools  have 
done;  the  estimate  of  these  teachers  is  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. Indeed,  the  grammar  school  teachers  are  only 
too  well  aware  of  the  correctness  of  the  charges.  Every- 
where throughout  our  broad  country  the  same  charac- 
teristics mark  the  outcome  of  English  teaching  in  elemen- 
tary schools.  They  are,  (i)  lack  of  freedom  in  the  use 
of  language,  (2)  lack  of  accuracy,  (3)  lack  of  fertility  of 
thought.  These  lacks  are  frequently  serious,  sometimes 
amazing,  and  always  clearly  evident  except  in  favored 
towns  or  with  exceptional  children. 

Let  us  go  into  a  Httle  detail.  Taking  the  country  as  a 
whole,  then,  these  are  the  facts. 

With  regard  to  freedom  it  is  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  that  children  use  language,  both  in  speaking 
and  writing,  with  painful  effort.  They  do  not  speak  or 
write  as  they  bicycle  or  skate.  To  the  end  of  their  school 
course  they  communicate  their  ideas  awkwardly  and  with 
very  conscious  effort.  This  is  true  even  in  speaking,  if 
the  thing  said  involves  more  than  a  sentence.  In  writing 
they  use  English  with  the  same  freedom  that  most  people 
display  when  they  write  with  their  left  hand.     They  ex- 


LANGUAGE  1 99 

press  their  thoughts  on  paper  with  reluctance,  and  they 
never  write  at  all  if  they  can  help  it. 

Regarding  accuracy,  let  the  oral  or  written  efforts 
of  the  pupils  tell  the  story.  The  sentences  that  children 
use  in  any  continuous  effort  in  speaking,  even  in  reci- 
tation, are  crude  and  inaccurate.  Often  the  teacher 
repeats  the  child's  expression  after  him,  making  it 
correct,  saying,  "You  mean  to  say,"  etc.  He 
did  not  mean  to  say  that  at  all.  He  meant  to 
say  just  what  he  did  say.  Often  the  child  does 
not  finish  his  sentence  audibly,  but  permits  it  to  fade 
away  into  an  inarticulate  murmur.  Generally  the 
teacher  accepts  this,  filling  it  out,  telhng  him  as  before 
that  he  "meant  to  say,"  etc.  The  knowledge  of  the 
excellent  things  that  he  "meant  to  say"  must  be  very 
gratifying,  and,  at  the  same  time  somewhat  surprising. 

In  written  work,  especially  incidental  work  such  as 
tests,  inaccuracy  in  construction  is  so  common  that  the 
shining  exceptions  do  not  relieve  the  burden  of  general 
failure  that  the  teacher  sadly  carries.  Sentences  are 
incomplete,  faulty  in  grammatical  agreement,  show  a 
feeble  power  as  to  pronouns  and  tenses,  and  are  loose 
or  involved  in  construction. 

In  the  matter  of  fertility  of  thought  it  is  well  known 
that  this  is  often  lacking  when  the  accuracy  of  expression 
is  most  commendable.  Children  say  faultlessly  what  it  is 
not  worth  while  to  say  at  all.  This  is  very  significant.  It 
means  this :  So  much  time  and  strength  has  been  expended 
on  form  that  thought  has  been  forgotten  or  excluded. 


200  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Two  questions  suggested  by  this  survey  become 
highly  interesting :  First,  what  is  the  matter  with  the 
schools  ?     Second,  what  are  we  going  to  do  about  it  ? 

The  answer  to  the  first  of  these  questions  is  exceedingly 
difficult.  There  are,  however,  two  classes  of  explanation 
that  may  be  offered,  the  first  class  including  those  that 
are  beyond  the  teacher's  control  and  the  second  those 
that  are  within  his  control. 

In  the  former  class  of  explanations,  let  us  note  first 
that  the  teaching  of  language  is  made  extremely  difficult 
by  the  fact  that  much  of  the  influence  exerted  on  the 
child  out  of  school  tends  to  nullify  the  progress  made 
by  pupils  in  school.  This  is  true  of  no  other  subject 
except  morals.  In  arithmetic,  for  example,  the  child  is 
taught  that  two  and  three  make  five,  and  that  proposi- 
tion is  not  disputed  when  he  arrives  at  home ;  but  if  he 
is  taught  that  it  is  wrong  to  say,  "Him  and  me  done  it, " 
that  proposition  may  be  and  in  many  cases  is  disputed. 

No  one  who  has  not  dealt  with  children  in  practical 
efforts  to  teach  the  English  language  can  appreciate  the 
tremendous  obstacles  that  arise  from  the  considera- 
tion just  noted.  It  bears  directly  on  the  main  fact  in 
the  acquirement  of  language;  namely,  that  we  do  not 
learn  language  voluntarily;  we  absorb  it.  This  is 
primarily  true  of  children.  In  later  life  we  accompKsh 
something  by  our  own  volition,  although  even  then  the 
most  of  our  acquirements  are  involuntary.  But  children 
just  breathe  in  language.  They  make  no  effort  whatever  ; 
"  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin,"  but  neither  Solomon 


LANGUAGE  201 

nor  any  other  grown-up  man  can  compete  with  them. 
Let  a  man  and  his  six-year-old  boy  go  to  France.  Turn 
the  child  loose  among  French  children  of  his  own  age,  and 
let  the  father  devote  his  time  to  studying  the  French 
language.  In  one  year  the  boy  will  speak  French  as 
idiomatically  as  French  children  eight  years  old  speak  it. 
The  father's  French  will  probably  be  of  the  pigeon  Eng- 
lish variety.  The  man  tries,  the  child  does  not,  and  the 
child  comes  out  ahead.  Incidental  teaching  is  always 
more  effective  than  formal  teaching,  and  more  lasting 
in  its  influence. 

Now,  this  part  of  the  problem  as  applied  to  schools 
works  out  thus :  Our  children  get  a  little  direct  teaching 
during  the  school  day,  and  incidentally  hear  a  little  good 
English.  After  school  they  proceed  to  the  street  and  the 
home,  where  the  real  effective  teaching  is  done.  They 
bring  to  school  the  slovenly  pronunciation  and  the 
slovenly  English  of  the  street  and  many  homes,  and 
the  poor  teacher  labors  wearily  and  to  a  large  extent 
unsuccessfully  to  undo  the  work  of  the  children's  other 
teachers.  The  wonder  is  that  he  accomplishes  anything 
at  all.  If  it  could  be  so  arranged  that  a  child  would 
never  hear  anything  but  good  English,  the  teacher's 
work  would  be  comparatively  easy. 

There  is  a  second  possible  explanation  included  in  the 
class  not  under  the  teacher's  control.  It  involves  an 
unknown  quantity,  one  element  in  the  problem  that 
educators  have  not  yet  seized.  It  is  a  fairly  safe  rule 
to  follow  in  teaching,  that  when  large  bodies  of  children, 


202  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

here,  there,  and  everywhere,  resist  the  teaching  of  a 
certain  subject,  nature  is  thus  indicating  that  the  subject 
should  not  be  taught  at  all  or  should  be  taught  in  some 
other  way.  The  work  of  children  in  language  presents  just 
this  phenomenon.  It  would  seem  that  the  childish  mind 
in  grapphng  with  so  many  things  as  are  involved  in  the 
writing  of  a  composition  breaks  down  under  the  strain. 
The  child  must  furnish  thought  material,  he  must  de- 
termine the  construction,  he  must  arrange  it  on  paper  in 
good  form,  he  must  think  of  capitals,  spelling,  and  punctu- 
ation, and  finally  he  must  perform  the  act  of  writing, 
and  that,  in  the  case  of  many  children,  is  enough  in  itself. 
What  is  the  inference  ?  The  conviction  is  growing  that 
we  demand  this  kind  of  work  far  two  soon;  we  must 
be  more  patient  and  wait  a  Httle  longer  in  the  Hfe  of  the 
child  before  asking  all  that  is  indicated  above.  Perhaps 
he  needs  more  maturity  than  he  is  able  to  offer  at  the  age 
at  which  we  make  our  demands.  We  have  certainly 
found  this  so  in  other  subjects,  notably  in  arithmetic. 
This  is  a  serious  question.  The  complications  are  too 
many.  The  child  has  to  give  his  primary  attention  to  too 
many  details.  He  cannot  attend  to  them  all  satis- 
factorily at  the  same  time. 

One  thing  is  sure,  and  that  is  that  interest  disappears 
if  the  work  becomes  too  difl&cult.  There  is  a  tendency  on 
the  part  of  teachers  to  go  in  advance  of  the  child's 
spontaneity.  This  is  always  attended  with  a  loss  of  self- 
activity  on  the  part  of  the  child.  If  the  child  has  to 
wrestle  with  a  difficult  subject,  then  the  effort  that  he 


LANGUAGE  203 

is  required  to  expend,  growing  out  of  the  difficulty  of 
the  subject,  is  so  much  subtracted  from  the  form  and 
grammatical  construction  and  expression  of  the  composi- 
tion.    Spontaneity  vanishes,  and  with  it  interest. 

One  of  the  serious  facts  of  education  is  the  teacher's 
unwillingness  to  look  facts  in  the  face.  Educators  have 
either  shut  their  eyes  to  the  results  that  should  have 
been  regarded  by  them  as  data  in  a  most  scientific  sense, 
or  they  have  said  that  the  results  they  have  reached  are 
all  that  can  be  attained. 

It  is  equally  true  that  whether  we  recognize  the  facts 
or  not,  we  have  been  unwilHng  to  be  guided  by  them. 
We  have  spun  our  courses  of  study  from  our  own  brains 
and  without  reference  to  ascertainable  data.  Before  us 
for  years  and  years  have  sat  the  children.  They  have 
told  us  plainly  whether  our  theories  were  producing 
desirable  results  or  not.  But  with  this  vastness  of  data 
at  our  disposal,  we  have  been  governed  not  by  the  facts, 
but  by  tradition  or  pure  theory,  which  we  have  been 
unwiUing  to  abandon  even  in  the  presence  of  failure. 

This  unwilhngness  to  accept  the  facts  of  the  classroom, 
this  perverse  disposition  to  construct  courses  of  study  not 
based  on  facts,  and  to  decline  to  subject  them  to  the 
test  of  facts  is  and  has  been  the  gravest  evil  of  our  system 
of  education.  Everywhere,  and  in  every  subject,  we  are 
persisting  in  the  use  of  study  courses  and  methods  of 
teaching  that  are  manifestly  not  producing  the  desired 
results.  In  any  other  line  of  activity  we  abandon  a 
method  that  does  not  reach  the  end  in  view.     In  educa- 


204  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

tion  we  persist  in  it.  Our  case  is  that  of  the  fanner  who 
sees  his  neighbor's  fields  bearing  rich  harvests  as  a 
result  of  the  rotation  of  crops,  while  his  own  farm  yields 
scanty  returns,  and  yet  persists  in  sowing  the  same  crops 
in  the  same  fields  year  after  year.  The  remedy  is 
obvious ;  stop  doing  it,  let  us  adjust  our  methods  to  the 
facts  and  stop  expecting  the  facts  to  adjust  themselves 
to  our  methods. 

Many  good  people,  teachers  and  others,  say  that  the 
language  of  children  is  suffering  because  grammar  is  not 
thoroughly  taught  now.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  language 
of  children  is  much  better  than  when  grammar  was  more 
persistently  taught.  The  gain  is  not  sufficient  to  occasion 
hysterics  of  joy  among  us  teachers,  but  it  is  a  gain. 

The  older  grammars  and  many  of  the  newer  grammars 
state  that  grammar  teaches  the  art  of  speaking  and 
writing  our  language  correctly.  Really  there  is  very 
little  of  the  grammar  that  has  any  relation  to  correct 
speaking.  Enghsh  grammar  is  to  be  thought  of  from  two 
standpoints :  the  one,  its  use  in  aiding  pupils  to  write 
correctly,  and  the  other,  as  a  formal  study  for  its  own 
sake  or  to  enable  a  student  to  analyze  an  English  sentence, 
or  to  begin  the  study  of  other  languages.  It  is  generally 
agreed  that  the  amount  of  knowledge  necessary  from  the 
second  point  of  view  is  not  necessary  from  the 
first  point  of  view.  In  earlier  days,  in  teaching 
English  grammar,  the  systematic  presentation  came  first 
and  the  practice  in  the  use  of  grammatical  construction 
afterwards.    Then  came  the  so-called  reform,    and   an 


LANGUAGE  205 

effort  was  made  to  approximate  to  the  method  of  teaching 
foreign  languages.  In  the  earher  history  of  the  reform 
it  was  assumed  that  grammar  could  be  thrown  out  alto- 
gether, but  gradually  pedagogical  opinion  drifted  back 
to  the  use  of  more  or  less  grammar  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  study  of  EngHsh.  Out  of  this  condition  of  things 
sprang  the  brood  of  language  books.  The  authors  of  these 
books,  having  discarded  grammatical  considerations, 
expended  a  great  deal  of  effort,  and  exhibited  much  in- 
genuity in  filHng  their  books  with  unproductive  material. 
As  the  considerations  of  grammar  reasserted  their 
importance,  these  authors  introduced  grammar  little  by 
httle  and  in  accordance  with  their  own  views  of  what  was 
necessary. 

Now  there  are  errors  that  grammar  does  help  us  to 
remedy.  They  ^re  popular  errors,  and  we  must  have 
enough  grammar  to  enable  us  to  attack  these  errors. 
An  example  is  non-agreement  in  person  and  number  of 
subject  and  predicate.  Then  there  are  subordinate 
errors  not  often  made.  An  example  is  the  confusion 
in  the  use  of  ''who,"  "which,"  and  "that."  Then 
there  are  errors  seldom  or  never  made.  An  example 
is  the  agreement  when  the  antecedent  is  a  collective 
noun.  Finally,  there  are  errors  that  we  could  not  make 
if  we  tried.  For  example,  "Prepositions  govern  the 
objective  case."  In  Latin,  or  German,  the  government 
by  the  preposition  is  a  serious  matter,  but  what  about 
the  English  noun  ?     Is  it  possible  to  make  any  errors  ? 

The  real  question  to  be  decided  is :    is  it  sensible  to 


206  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

spend  a  large  amount  of  time  in  studying  matters  that 
have  no  practical  bearing  on  the  child's  speech  ?  Has  he 
so  much  time  that  we  can  afford  to  squander  it  thus? 
Yet  this  is  what  the  grammarians  demand.  A  Uttle 
grammar  is  very  necessary.  For  example :  The  ex- 
travagant use  of  connectives  is  an  exceedingly  popular 
error.  One  of  the  first  things  to  do  in  the  teaching  of 
language  is  to  train  the  child  to  use  short  sentences. 
Then  many  of  his  errors  will  not  be  possible.  The  well- 
known  tendency  of  children  is  toward  long,  involved  sen- 
tences, difficult  of  correction,  and  this  is  the  occasion  of 
many  of  the  grammatical  errors  and  other  crudities  seen 
in  the  work  of  the  pupils  of  the  upper  grades. 

The  number  of  common  errors  among  children  is 
comparatively  few.  Some  time  ago,  a  statistical  study  of 
the  errors  most  frequently  made  by  children  was  con- 
ducted in  the  schools  of  an  American  cit}'.  It  was 
found  that  there  were  six  elementary  considerations  of 
grammar  on  which,  if  we  place  careful  and  concentrated 
attention,  we  shall  clear  up  80  per  cent  of  the  errors. 
But  this  is  not  what  is  done.  We  jumble  all  kinds  of 
irrelevant  considerations  in  grammar  in  with  those 
that  are  relevant.  Thus  we  succeed  in  doing  two  things : 
first,  we  waste  precious  time  on  matter  that  leads  no- 
where; second,  we  prevent  the  child's  concentrating  and 
drilling  on  the  points  of  grammar  that  he  does  need  to 
master.  This  is  one  of  the  causes  of  our  poor  work  in 
English.  Why  not  find  out  the  common  errors  of  child- 
hood, concentrate    on    them,   teach  the  grammar  that 


LANGUAGE  207 

belongs  to  them,  and  extirpate  them  ?  It  can  easily  be 
done.  This  would  revolutionize  our  purposeless  grammar 
work.  For  example,  the  pronoun  would  be  found  to 
require  careful  attention,  the  noun  very  little.  The 
possessive  case  of  the  noun  is  a  danger  point,  but  the 
boy  could  not  make  a  mistake  in  the  nominative  if  he 
tried  to  do  so. 

The  grammar  was  made  for  the  child,  and  not  the  child 
for  the  grammar.     If  this  is  not  the  case,  it  ought  to  be. 

It  is  important  that  pupils  should  make  a  critical  study 
of  our  language  through  grammar.  But  let  us  place  this 
critical  study  where  it  belongs,  in  the  high  school.  It 
has  nothing  to  do  with  obtaining  a  ready  and  accurate 
use  of  our  language.  A  suspicion  forces  itself  on  one's 
mind  that  our  present  methods  in  grammar  take  little 
account  of  the  fact  of  the  child's  mental  development. 
We  have  skillful  teachers,  and  our  teachers  work  hard 
enough.  I  suspect  that  if  the  children  could  speak 
they  would  say,  "You  are  taking  up  the  consideration 
of  difficult  matters  before  the  mind  is  prepared  for  them ; 
you  therefore  fail  and  must  fail." 

Again,  the  teaching  of  language  is  frequently  character- 
ized by  almost  utter  lack  of  purpose.  Such  a  charge 
cannot  be  made  against  any  other  study.  In  arithmetic, 
for  example,  long  division  is  supposed,  at  least,  to  be 
mastered  at  a  certain  time.  In  language  teaching,  nothing 
is  supposed  to  be  mastered  at  any  time.  Every  question 
is  always  open,  and  is  a  part  of  the  course  of  study  to  the 
end.     The  teacher  teaches  everything  and  all  at  the  same 


2o8  BETTER  SCHOOLS 

time.  The  daily  lesson  is  based  on  a  hand-to-mouth  con- 
ception. To  concentrate  on  a  given  subject,  plan  for  a 
three  months'  or  a  six  months'  campaign  and  master  that 
subject  is  not  a  part  of  our  conception  of  teaching  lan- 
guage. Concentration  counts  for  as  much  in  the  teaching 
of  language  as  in  any  other  field  of  endeavor.  The  weak- 
ness of  our  teaching  is  that  the  teacher  ignores  nothing. 
It  is  demonstrable  that  the  ehmination  of  the  unnecessary 
connectives  in  children's  speech  can  be  accompHshed  if 
the  teacher  does  nothing  else  in  grammar  for  a  cer- 
tain period.  But  the  teacher  does  not  do  this.  He 
corrects  errors  in  cormectives  and  in  everythmg  else, 
because  he  is  teaching  everything  else.  As  a  result,  the 
pupil's  attention  is  scattered,  and  he  becomes  proficient 
in  nothing. 

Another  consideration  of  the  utmost  importance  is  this : 
The  underrating  of  the  function  of  oral  work  plays  a  very 
important  part  in  retarding  progress  m  language.  In 
other  words,  we  are  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  to  use  the 
pencil.  Here,  again,  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  data 
that  the  children  furnish.  The  child  comes  to  school 
using  language  freely.  As  soon  as  possible  we  put  a  pencil 
into  his  hand,  and  freeze  him  up.  In  a  short  time  he  has 
stopped  talking.  In  order  to  have  accurate  language  we 
must  first  have  language  of  some  kind.  If  the  children 
will  not  furnish  it,  what  are  we  to  do  ?  There  is  nothing 
left  but  to  provide  material  of  our  own.  But  inasmuch  as 
the  child  is  going  to  talk  his  own  language,  why  not  start 
with  his  own  language?     In  a  word,  fluency  antedates 


LANGUAGE  209 

accuracy.  In  extinguishing  fluency  we  cripple  our 
teaching  for  all  time. 

All  essential  errors  are  made  in  speaking.  When  the 
child  writes,  he  merely  records  these  errors  on  paper. 
Why  let  them  be  recorded  at  all?  The  possibiHty  of 
practice  in  the  way  of  correction  is  great  in  oral  language 
and  scanty  in  written  language,  just  because  we  can  talk 
so  much  more  than  we  can  write.  The  habit  of  fluency  is 
favored  in  talking ;  it  is  quenched  in  writing.  In  writing 
the  child  is  occupied  with  a  new  set  of  mental  coordi- 
nations involved  in  the  act  of  writing.  He  has  Httle 
energy  to  spare  for  thought  or  language.  In  speaking,  his 
whole  attention  can  be  concentrated  on  the  thought  and 
language. 

This  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the  tendency  to  go  ahead 
of  the  child's  development.  It  is  an  educational  disease. 
In  "Dombey  and  Son,"  it  is  said  of  Dr.  BUmber's  school 
that  "It  was  a  great  hot-house,  in  which  there  was  a 
forcing  apparatus  incessantly  at  work.  All  the  boys 
bloomed  before  their  time.  Mental  green-peas  were 
produced  at  Christmas,  and  intellectual  asparagus  all 
the  year  round.  Mathematical  gooseberries  (very  sour 
ones,  too)  were  common  at  untimely  seasons,  and  from 
mere  sprouts  of  bushes.  Under  Doctor  Bhmber's 
cultivation  every  description  of  Greek  and  Latin  vege- 
table was  got  off  the  driest  twigs  of  boys,  imder  the 
frostiest  circumstances.  Nature  was  of  no  consequence 
at  aU." 

The  Blimber  germ  is  still  active,  although  its  toxic 


2IO  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

qualities  are  somewhat  modified.  We  shall  grow  wiser,  as 
wise,  perhaps,  as  Sam  Lawson,  the  philosopher  of  "Old- 
town  Folks,"  whose  theory  was  that  "Some  things  can't 
be  druv." 

Many  teachers  do  too  much  of  the  child's  work  in 
teaching  language,  as  in  other  subjects.  The  faculties 
grow  by  exercise,  but  exercise  impHes  resistance.  How 
can  the  child  encounter  resistance  if  the  teacher  does  his 
work?  To  illustrate:  The  child  in  his  composition 
has  not  commenced  his  sentence  with  a  capital.  The 
teacher  points  out  the  error  with  a  blue  pencil.  Why? 
Why  not  let  him  find  it  out  himself  ?  He  will  grow  strong 
if  he  grapples  with  the  composition  himself ;  he  will  grow 
weak  if  we  do  it  for  him.  No  one  can  learn  to  skate  if 
another  does  the  tumbling  for  him.  Self-help  counts  for 
as  much  in  teaching  language  as  it  does  in  skating. 

These  evils  are  real,  they  are  venerable,  they  are 
widespread.  But  with  a  correct  diagnosis  a  remedy  is 
possible.  To  understand  our  disease  is  to  bring  the 
cure  in  sight. 

The  remedy  seems  to  be  this :  Frankly  acknowledge 
our  wrong-headedness  ;  cast  tradition  to  the  winds;  cast 
aside  any  method,  however  ancient  and  respectable, 
that  does  not  produce  the  results;  sit  at  the  feet  of  the 
children,  learn  what  they  can  tell  us  of  themselves; 
know  precisely  what  we  wish  to  accompUsh  and  concen- 
trate. 

I  have  long  held  the  opinion  that  we  teach  many 
grammatical  errors  that  children  commit  very  seldom, 


LANGUAGE  211 

and  others  that  they  do  not  commit  at  all.  I  have 
a  theory  that  if  we  could  get  a  sufficiently  large  body 
of  data  we  would  find  that  there  is,  among  children, 
a  degree  of  popularity  of  error,  so  to  speak,  and  that 
if  this  could  be  ascertained  the  work  of  the  teacher 
might  be  concentrated  on  the  most  important  errors, 
making  unnecessary  the  work  he  is  accustomed  to  spend 
on  errors  that  have  no  practical  existence.  I  have  in 
mind,  also,  the  methods  by  which  modern  languages 
are  taught,  in  which  grammatical  constructions  are 
taken  up,  not  in  a  logical,  but  rather  a  psychological 
order,  an  order  determined  by  the  child's  mental  power 
and  the  possibilities  of  practice  with  relation  to  error. 
A  good  German  introductory  book,  for  instance,  will 
introduce  grammatical  construction  in  accordance  with 
the  author's  views  as  to  the  ability  of  the  pupils  to  take 
up  the  work,  the  orderly  and  systematic  presentation 
of  the  subject  of  German  grammar  being  given  a  place  in 
the  back  of  the  book  for  present  reference  and  possible 
future  study. 

I  think  that  any  one  who  investigates  what  has  really 
been  accomplished  by  our  grammar  schools  in  the  matter 
of  good  English  construction  will  be  very  much  dis- 
appointed. The  high  school  teachers  who  receive  the 
grammar  school  graduates  are  unanimous  in  their  con- 
demnation. They  do  not  talk  very  much  about  the 
methods,  but  they  do  talk  about  the  outcome.  The 
young  men  and  women  who  reach  the  high  school,  so 
these  teachers  say,  know  next  to  nothing  about  Enghsh 


212  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

grammar.  In  the  attempt  to  teach  Latin,  German,  or 
French,  the  difficulties  of  the  high  school  are  enormously 
increased  by  the  total  ignorance  of  EngUsh  grammar  on 
the  part  of  the  pupil,  and  the  teachers  of  EngUsh  in  the 
high  school  insist  that  they  are  unable  to  point  out  the 
pupil's  errors  in  the  writing  of  English  because  he  does 
not  know  the  language  by  which  those  errors  are  to  be 
described.  I  do  not  find  high  school  teachers  unfair  in 
this  matter.  They  admit  that  young  children  cannot 
take  up  the  analytical  consideration  of  EngUsh  grammar, 
but  they  claim  that  at  some  time  before  the  student 
reaches  the  high  school  he  ought  to  have  had  a  reasonable 
course  in  that  subject. 

Now,  as  already  stated,  EngUsh  grammar  is  to  be 
thought  of  from  two  standpoints :  the  one  its  use  in 
aiding  the  pupils  to  write  correctly,  and  the  other  as 
a  formal  study  for  its  own  sake  or  to  enable  a  student 
to  analyze  an  EngUsh  sentence,  or  to  begin  the  study  of 
other  languages.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  amount  of 
knowledge  necessary  from  the  second  point  of  view  is  not 
necessary  from  the  first  point  of  view.  Professor  Whit- 
ney sums  up  the  matter  thus :  "To  make  the  young  use 
their  own  tongues  with  accuracy  and  force,  some  of  the 
rudimentary  distinctions  and  rules  of  grammar  are 
conveniently  taught;  but  that  is  not  the  study  of 
grammar,  and  it  wiU  not  bear  the  intrusion  of  much 
formal  grammar  without  being  spoiled  of  its  own  ends." 
The  questions  to  be  decided  are  as  foUows :  Granting 
that  the  systematic  study  of  grammar  should  not  begin 


LANGUAGE  213 

until  a  certain  age,  how  much  grammar,  or  rather  what 
points  in  grammar,  are  to  be  considered  before  that  time  ? 
Can  they  be  considered  independently  of  the  rest  of 
the  grammar,  and  in  what  order  and  by  what  method 
should  these  considerations  be  taken  up  ?  When  should 
this  consideration  of  the  subject  cease  and  the  formal 
consideration  begin  ? 

I  do  not  claim  to  do  more  than  offer  a  beginning  in 
answering  these  questions,  but  so  far  as  my  study  throws 
Hght  on  them,  I  confess  that  the  conclusions  to  which  I 
am  forced  are  startHng.  They  disarrange  all  my  previous 
views,  and  point  to  a  revision  of  the  whole  language  cur- 
riculum and  the  language  textbooks. 

The  investigation  was  conducted  in  the  following  way : 
On  the  twentieth  of  January,  1902,  I  requested  every 
teacher  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey  (where  I  was  then 
Superintendent) ,  from  the  fourth  to  the  eighth  grades  in- 
clusive, to  have  a  composition  prepared  by  every  pupil. 
When  there  are  nine  grades  below  the  high  school,  one 
must  be  added  to  the  numbering  of  grades  in  this  paper, 
the  fourth  being  read  as  the  fifth,  etc.  Each  teacher 
was  to  follow  her  customary  plan  in  giving  out  ordinary 
class  work.  The  composition  might  be  a  reproduction 
or  an  original  composition,  as  the  teacher  might  choose. 
I  asked  each  teacher  to  mark  every  composition  thor- 
oughly in  accordance  with  the  scheme  presented  in  this 
study  as  Exhibit  A. 


214  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Exhibit  A 

Schedule  of  Errors  in  Writing  English 

1.  No  sentence.     (Subject  or  predicate  left  out.) 

2.  Extravagant  use  of  connectives,  making  long  sentences. 

3.  Wrong  use  of  article,  a  or  an. 

4.  Unnecessary  use  of  article. 

5.  Non-agreement  in  person  and  number  of  subject  and  predi- 
cate.    Simple  cases. 

6.  Non-agreement  when  subject  consists  of  two  or  more  nouns  or 
pronouns  connected  by  "  aiui." 

7.  Non-agreement  when  there  are  two  or  more  nominatives 
quaUfied  by  "  every,"  "  each,"  "  no,"  or  "  not." 

8.  Non-agreement  when  two  or  more  singular  nominatives  are 
separated  by  "  or,"  "  nor,"  "  as  well  as,"  or  other  disjunctives. 

9.  Non-agreement  when  subject  is  a  collective  noun. 

10.  Wrong  formation  of  possessive  case.     (Nouns.) 

11.  Wrong  formation  of  possessive  case.     (Pronouns.) 

12.  Wrong  use  of  possessive  case  when  two  or  more  nouns  are 
connected  by  "  and." 

13.  Errors  in  the  pronoun  in  the  objective  case. 

14.  Agreement  of  pronoun  with  antecedent  in  gender,  number, 
and  person.     Simple  case. 

15.  Agreement  of  pronoun  with  antecedent  when  the  latter 
consists  of  two  or  more  nouns  in  the  singular  number,  whether 
connected  by  "  and  "  or  "  not." 

16.  Agreement  with  a  plural  antecedent  consistmg  of  two  or 
more  nouns  qualified  by  "  each,"  "  ever>',"  "  no,"  or  "  not." 

17.  Agreement  with  antecedent  consisting  of  two  or  more  nouns, 
separated  by  "or,"  " nor,"  "  as  well  as,"  or  any  other  disjunctive. 

18.  Agreement  when  the  antecedent  is  a  collective  noim. 

19.  No  antecedent. 

20.  Antecedent  doubtful. 

21.  Errors  in  use  of  subjunctive  mode. 

22.  Wrong  use  of  or  omission  of  "  to  "  in  infinitive  mode. 

23.  Errors  in  tense,  as  "drunk"  for  "drank,"  "begin"  for 
"  began." 


LANGUAGE  21$ 

24.  Use  of  imperfect  tense  for  perfect  participle. 

25.  Errors  in  use  of  "  shall  "  or  "  will.''^ 

27.  Errors  in  use  of  "  lie  "  and  "  lay,"  "  sei  "  and  "  sit."    - 

28.  Agreement  in  number  of  adjectives  with  nouns,  when 
adjectives  imply  a  unit  or  plurality,  as  "  this  "  and  "  these." 

29.  Confusion  of  "  each  other  "  with  "one  another." 

30.  Use  of  "  but "  instead  of  "  than  "  after  "  other,"  "  otherwise," 
or  "  else." 

31.  Use  of  adjectives  when  ad-verbs  are  required,  as  mean,  meanly. 
3  2 .    Use  of  adverb  after  a  verb  when  an  adjective  is  required;  as,  "  the 

flower  smells  siveetly,"  instead  of  sweet. 
2,2,.   Use  of  superlatives  when  only  two  objects  are  compared. 

34.  Use  of  "  them  "  for  "  those." 

35.  Use  of  "  like  "  for  "  as." 

36.  Confusion  in  use  of  "  who,"  "  which,"  and  "  that." 

37.  Use  of  two  negatives. 

38.  Use  of  "  to  what  "  instead  of  "  to  that." 

39.  Use  of  "  but  "  instead  of  "  that  "  or  "  if." 

40.  Misuse  of  prepositions. 

41.  Use  of  "  between  "  for  "  among." 

42.  In  a  sentence  containing  i^vo  or  more  words  or  two  or  more 
clauses,  each  of  which  requires  a  different  particle  to  connect  it  with 
the  conclusion  of  the  sentence,  the  appropriate  connecting  particle 
must  be  used  after  each  word  or  sentence. 

Violation  of  this.  Illustration.  He  has  made  alterations  and 
additions  to  the  work.  The  word  "in"  should  follow  alterations. 
This  is  a  very  common  error. 

43.  Use  of  superfluous  words. 

44.  Abbreviations  incorrectly  used.^ 

I  tried  in  preparing  the  above  scheme  to  cover  all 
reasonable  errors  in  speech,  errors  that  most  people  were 
supposed  to  make  in  writing  and  speaking  at  one  time  or 
another.     The  errors   in   the  scheme  are  indicated  by 

1  Not  considered  in  result  because  not  a  grammatical  error. 


2l6  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

description  and  number.  The  teachers  were  asked  to 
indicate  the  errors  by  number  and  to  make  a  hst  of  the 
number  of  errors  of  each  kind.  Two  errors  of  one  kind 
were  counted  as  two  errors  in  the  total,  etc.  I  also 
urged  the  teachers  not  to  consider  the  results  in  this 
work  as  a  criticism  on  themselves,  and  I  asked  the 
fourth-grade  teachers  to  consider  their  compositions 
from  exactly  the  same  standpoint,  so  far  as  the  errors 
in  question  were  concerned,  as  an  eighth-grade  or  high 
school  composition  should  be  considered ;  that  is  to 
say,  no  allowance  was  to  be  made  for  the  pupil's  youth. 
I  simply  wanted  to  know  what  errors  he  committed, 
whether  young  or  old. 

These  compositions  were  written  and  criticized,  and 
the  results  were  tabulated.  The  children  furnished  us 
with  2807  compositions  and  8481  errors.  The  tabula- 
tion showed  the  number  of  errors  of  each  kind  for  each 
grade  and  for  all  grades.  I  then  subjected  the  figures 
to  the  following  treatment.  I  found  the  percentage  of 
each  error  in  a  given  grade  by  dividing  the  number  of 
cases  of  that  kind  of  error  by  the  total  number  of  cases  of 
error  in  the  grade.  I  also  found  the  percentage  of  errors 
of  each  kind  for  all  the  grades  taken  together. 

A  remarkable  fact  immediately  developed,  namely, 
that  for  sixteen  kinds  of  errors  there  was  no  percent- 
age of  error  at  all.  That  is  to  say,  there  were  either 
no  errors  or  else  there  were  so  few  as  not  to  reach  one 
half  per  cent.  In  the  case  of  twelve  kinds  of  errors 
there  was  a  percentage  of  only  one.     I  consider   this 


LANGUAGE  21 7 

a  revelation.  There  were  only  forty- three  kinds  of  errors 
all  told,  and  in  twenty-eight  of  those  the  per  cent  of 
error  did  not  reach  i|;  that  is  to  say,  in  65  per  cent 
of  the  kinds  of  errors,  the  result  was  scarcely  worth 
considering.  Therefore  the  strength  of  the  correction 
must  be  placed  on  only  fifteen  kinds  of  errors,  or  35  per 
cent  of  the  whole  number.  Here  we  get  our  first  ghmpse 
of  the  enormous  waste  of  labor  and  time  in  teaching 
English  grammar  so  far  as  its  use  in  speaking  or  writing 
is  concerned. 

In  this  connection  I  cannot  help  referring  to  one  fact 
in  the  investigation  that  brought  to  my  face  a  broad 
smile.  Notice  error  42  :  "  In  a  sentence  containing  two 
or  more  words  or  two  or  more  clauses,  each  of  which 
requires  a  different  particle  to  connect  it  with  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  sentence,  the  appropriate  connecting  particle 
must  be  used  after  each  word  or  clause."  The  illus- 
tration given  of  this  is,  "He  has  made  alterations  and 
additions  to  the  work."  The  word  in  should  follow 
alterations.  When  I  issued  my  instructions  I  thought  it 
necessary  in  this  specific  case  to  put  the  teachers  on 
their  guard,  and  so  I  inserted  this  warning:  "This  is  a 
very  common  error."  When  the  returns  for  the  city 
came  in,  I  found  that  in  the  case  of  error  42  there  were 
just  47  instances  out  of  a  grand  total  of  8481.  This 
shows  how  much  I  knew.  It  illustrated  the  wide  gap 
between  theory  and  experience.  It  is  a  type  of  what 
might  be  called  a  priori  grammar  teaching,  which  places 
the   same   amount  of   emphasis  on   all   sort  of  errors, 


2lS 


BETTER   SCHOOLS 


when  the  facts  easily  ascertained  show  that  many  errors 
are  not  made  by  children. 

I  now  come  to  the  discussion  of  errors  that  were  made. 
In  Exhibit  B  I  have  arranged  these  errors  in  groups,  so 
that  their  significance  may  be  seen.  The  arrangement 
of  groups  follows  generally  the  order  of  popularity  of 
errors  indicated  in  said  groups.  There  are  eight  general 
headings.  The  first  column  indicates  the  number  of 
the  error ;  the  second,  a  suggestion  of  the  title ;  the 
third,  the  percentage  of  error;  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth, 
seventh,  and  eighth,  the  number  of  errors  made  in  each 
grade  by  each  hundred  pupils  in  each  grade. 

Exhibit  B 


Classification  of  Errors 

Grade 
No.  of  Per  Cent        Number  oj  Errors  Per 

Error  Error  of  Error         loo  Pupils  per  Grade 

GROUP   A  4th    5tk     6th     7th    8th 

2   Excessive  use   of  connectives        .     i6     66     43     52     27     10 

GROUP  B.   Superfluous  Words 
43    Superfluous   words        I5     39     33     51     27     63 

GROUP  C.   Imperfect  Sentence 

5  Non-agreement  of  subject  and  pred- 

icate       8 

r    Subject  or  predicate  omitted     .     .       6 

6  Compound  subject  connected  by 

''and" 1 

9  Subject  a  collective  noun      .    .    .    .     _i_ 

16     71     60    48     28     15 


LANGUAGE  219 

GROUP  D.    Verb 

23  Errors     in    tense,     "drunk"     for 

"drank" 14 

24  Imperfect   tense  for  perfect  parti- 

ciple        4 

27  Errors  in  "  lie  "  and  "  lay"  etc  .  2 
22   Wrong  use  or  omission  of  "  to  "  in 

infinitive i 

21   Wrong  use  of  subjunctive    ....  i 

25  ''Shall"  and  "will" _i 

22    87    69    66     47     19 

GROUP  E.    Nouns  and  Pronouns 

SUB-GROUP.      ANTECEDENTS 

14   Agreement  of  antecedent  and  pro- 
noun     2 

20   Antecedent  doubtful    ....     4 
19   No  antecedent _2 

TOTAL   ANTECEDENTS       .8  IQ      29      32      IS      18 

SUB-GROUP.      POSSESSIVES 

10  Possessive  nouns 4 

11  Possessive  Pronouns    .     .     .     .  _i 

TOTAL  POSSESSIVES  .5  16      24      15      14        7 

SUB-GROUP.      MISCELLANEOUS 

13  Wrong  objective  case,  pronoun  .     .     .     i 
36  Confusion  of  "who,"  "which,"  and 

"that" J_ 

Group  E  Total  nouns  and  pronouns  16    43     64    59    37    31 

GROUP  F.    Prepositions 
40   Misuse  of  prepositions    ....         5 

42  Varying  of  particle,  etc     .    .    ,    .      _i 

6     16     27     16     13     12 


220  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

GROUP  G.    Articles 

3  Wrong  use  of  articles 3 

4  Unnecessary  use  of  article    ...      _i 


4     i6     13     13     II       S 

GROUP    H.    Adverbs 

37    Two  negatives i 

31    Adjectives  for  adverbs       ....        i 
2,2   Adverbs  for  adjectives       ....      _i 

3       7      8    12      7      7 

Group  A  refers  to  the  use  of  long  sentences,  with 
extravagant  use  of  connectives,  16  per  cent.  Group  B 
relates  to  the  use  of  superfluous  words,  15  per  cent. 
Group  C  relates  to  those  errors  that  belong  to  the 
formation  of  the  sentence.  It  includes  four  kinds  of 
errors,  and  sums  up  to  16  per  cent.  Group  D  relates  to 
verbs;  the  percentage  is  22.  Group  E  relates  to  errors 
in  nouns  and  pronouns,  16  per  cent.  It  is  subdivided 
into  three  sub-groups,  relating,  respectively,  to  antece- 
dents, 8  per  cent,  possessives,  5  per  cent,  and  miscella- 
neous, 3  per  cent.  Group  F  relates  to  errors  in  preposi- 
tions, 6  per  cent.  Group  G  takes  in  errors  in  the  use  of 
the  article,  4  per  cent.  Group  H  relates  to  adverbs, 
3  per  cent. 

The  errors  are  considered  under  three  classes.  Princi- 
pal or  essential  errors  are  printed  in  full-faced  type  on 
both  Exhibits  A  and  B.  Subordinate  errors  are  printed 
in  Exhibits  A  and  B  in  itahcs.  Errors  not  made  at  all 
appear  on  Exhibit  A  in  plain  type.  They  do  not  appear 
on  Exhibit  B. 


LANGUAGE  221 

Let  us  now  examine  these  results  a  little  in  detail,  and 
while  doing  so  sketch  a  faint  outline  of  a  course  of  study. 

Group  A,  the  extravagant  use  of  connectives,  seems  to 
me  to  be  indicated  as  the  proper  point  of  beginning,  not 
only  by  the  evident  popularity  of  that  error,  but  also  by 
good  sense.  As  to  popularity,  the  error  suppHes  i6  per 
cent  of  the  total.  I  have  always  taught  that  one  of  the 
first  things  to  do  in  the  teaching  of  grammar  is  to  train 
the  child  to  use  short  sentences.  Then  many  of  his 
errors  are  not  possible.  In  oral  and  written  work  it  is 
important  to  eliminate  many  of  the  connectives  that 
children  use.  As  I  have  already  said,  the  well-known 
tendency  of  cliildren  is  toward  long,  involved  sentences, 
and  this  is  the  occasion  of  many  of  the  grammatical 
errors  and  other  crudities  seen  in  the  work  of  the  pupils 
of  the  upper  grades. 

First,  therefore,  the  pupils'  involved  sentences  must 
be  cut  down  to  short  sentences.  I  would  keep  at  this 
until  the  end  is  reasonably  attained,  —  and  I  know  from 
experience  that  it  can  be  obtained,  —  and  afterward  I 
would  strike  at  the  evil  every  time  it  showed  itself. 
Suppose  this  is  done.  Is  it  not  apparent  that  the  danger 
of  making  imperfect  sentences  is  very  largely  reduced  ? 
If  a  teacher  should  concentrate  on  this  point  for  a  good 
while,  ignoring  other  points  of  grammar,  is  it  not  con- 
ceivable that  in  the  course  of  a  short  time,  say  a  couple 
of  years,  a  good  many  errors  would  disappear  of  them- 
selves? If  it  be  objected  that  this  would  result  in  a 
jerky  style,  let  the  tendency  of  the  pupil  to  unite  sentences 


222  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

be  borne  in  mind.  When  the  teacher  takes  off  the 
pressure,  the  pupil  will  unite  them  fast  enough. 

The  evil  of  superfluous  words  in  a  sentence  (Group  B) 
seems  indicated  as  the  next  point  of  attack.  The  group 
furnished  15  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  errors.  It 
ought  to  be  said,  in  passing,  that  this  is  not,  strictly 
speaking,  a  grammatical  error.  It  is,  nevertheless,  so 
proHfic  a  source  of  grammatical  error  that  consideration 
of  it  cannot  be  left  out  in  such  a  discussion  as  this.  The 
tendency  to  superfluous  words  is  obviously  a  matter  that 
must  be  looked  after  continuously  throughout  the  child's 
whole  course.  Yet  I  beheve  it  can  be  so  reduced  that 
the  effort  during  the  latter  part  of  the  course  will  mean 
watchfulness  on,  the  part  of  the  teacher,  rather  than 
specific  teaching.  And  besides,  the  superfluous  words 
that  occur  in  young  children's  sentences  are  very 
frequently  errors  of  grammar  rather  than  of  rhetoric, 
and  are  easily  corrected.  When  we  have  accompHshed 
a  considerable  elimination  of  superfluous  words,  I  fancy 
we  shall  have  done  more.  Many  errors  of  grammar  arise 
from  the  fact  that  the  sentences  are  compHcated  and 
the  child  loses  track  of  himself. 

There  are  certain  interesting  figures  concerning  this 
evil,  to  which  attention  should  be  called.  Look  at 
Exhibit  B,  Group  B,  where  the  results  are  given.  The 
figures  under  the  Grades  4,  5,  etc.,  indicate  the  number 
of  errors  per  hundred  pupils  in  said  grades.  Under  the 
fourth  grade  notice  that  we  have  thirty-nine  errors  per 
hundred  pupils;    in   the  fifth,  very  nearly  the  same, 


LANGUAGE  223 

thirty-three ;  In  the  sixth  grade,  fifty-one  errors,  and  in 
the  eighth,  sixty-three.  The  drop  in  the  seventh  is  rather 
odd.  The  general  trend  of  these  figures  teaches  clearly 
a  serious  fact,  viz.  that  we  are  making  no  progress  at 
present  in  reducing  this  evil  (superfluous  words) .  There 
is  a  general  increase  from  the  fourth  to  the  eighth  grades. 
Even  in  the  fourth  grade  the  evil  is  not  insignificant.  It 
takes  up  II  per  cent  of  the  errors  in  the  fourth  grade. 
I  read  the  lesson  thus :  The  work  must  be  begun  in  the 
fourth  grade,  with  the  expectation  that  attention  to  the 
matter  is  to  be  constantly  insisted  upon.  If  this  be 
done,  and  concentration  guide  the  teacher's  work,  I  can- 
not see  why,  when  the  sixth  grade  is  finished,  the  evil 
may  not  be  measurably  overcome,  requiring  thereafter 
only  vigilance. 

If  we  add  the  two  groups,  A  and  B,  do  we  not  get  some- 
thing of  a  shock  to  find  that  31  per  cent,  or  nearly  one 
third,  of  the  errors  in  children's  compositions,  as  actually 
found,  relate  to  matters  so  simple,  so  easily  corrected,  and 
so  vital  ?  I  cannot  help  thinking  of  Mark  Twain's  story 
of  the  man  who  was  confined  for  ten  years  in  a  lonesome 
dungeon.  Suddenly  a  bright  idea  struck  him.  He 
opened  the  door  and  walked  out. 

Let  us  now  analyze  Group  C,  which  relates  to  the 
sentence.  This  group  includes  errors  to  the  extent  of  16 
per  cent  of  the  total;  but  notice  that  two  kinds  of  errors 
in  the  group  alone  use  up  14  per  cent  of  the  16.  They 
are :  first,  non-agreement  in  person  and  number,  subject 
and  predicate  (simple  case) ;  second,  no  sentence,  subject 


224  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

or  predicate  left  out.  Let  it  be  noticed  that  these  are 
errors  in  simple  sentences.  Now  mark  the  other  two 
errors,  those  in  which  there  are  complications.  They  are 
the  non-agreement  where  the  subject  consists  of  two  or 
more  nouns  or  pronouns  connected  by  and,  i  per  cent, 
and  the  non-agreement  when  the  subject  is  a  collective 
noun,  I  per  cent.  Here  are  complications  on  which  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  expend  a  great  deal  of  energy. 
Altogether,  the  per  cents  foot  up  to  the  enormous  total 
of  2.  But  there  are  other  cases  of  non-agreement  not 
indicated  at  all  on  Exhibit  B,  because  the  per  cents  footed 
up  to  o.  See  Exhibit  A.  Such  are  errors  involved  when 
nominatives  are  connected  by  or  or  7ior  (No.  8),  or  when 
each  and  every  are  involved  (No.  7). 

I  think  in  the  consideration  of  this  class  of  errors  we 
have  a  flash  hght  on  the  whole  subject.  Here,  in  Group 
C,  is  a  total  of  16  per  cent  in  matters  relating  to  the 
construction  of  a  sentence,  subject  and  predicate  :  14  per 
cent  relates  to  sentences  simple  in  construction,  and  the 
other  mass  of  errors  to  complicated  subjects  and  predi- 
cates ;  the  latter  collection,  to  which  we  give  so  much  of 
our  valuable  time,  sums  up  to  2  per  cent.  I  say,  does 
not  some  such  law  as  this  concerning  the  teaching  of 
language  begin  to  emerge  ?  First,  see  that  your  sentences 
are  simple ;  second,  concentrate  your  attention  on  simple 
considerations,  and  leave  the  perplexities  to  take  care  of 
themselves  by  and  by,  when  you  have  cleared  away  the 
great  mass  of  inaccuracy,  and  when  the  child  has  the 
brains  to  understand  them.     Is  that  not  sensible  ?    And 


LANGUAGE  225 

is  it  not  fully  justified  by  the  figures  I  am  now  ofi"ering  ? 
If  the  child  can  form  the  habit  of,  first,  always  having  a 
subject  and  predicate,  and,  second,  of  having  that  sub- 
ject and  predicate  agree,  the  one  with  the  other,  in  all 
simple  cases,  will  he  not  have  also  formed  a  habit  of 
general  accuracy  regarding  the  sentence,  which  will 
make  it  very  easy  to  attend  properly  to  complications 
when  the  time  comes ;  and  may  we  not,  for  the  present, 
ignore  such  complications  and  leave  them  for  a  greater 
maturity  of  mind?  Here  are  three  propositions  that 
this  discussion  tends  to  put  in  the  hght  of  facts :  First, 
many  errors  are  so  complex  that  children  rarely  make 
them ;  second,  when  they  are  made,  the  children  are  so 
immature  that  they  cannot  understand  the  explanation 
when  it  is  offered ;  third,  if  the  errors  could  be  explained, 
the  pupils  do  not  have  practice  enough  in  the  said  errors 
to  enforce  their  correction. 

The  indication,  then,  for  the  course  of  study  in  this  case 
seems  clear.  Take  up  the  agreement  of  subject  and 
predicate  only  in  the  two  cases  making  up  the  14  per  cent, 
indicated  by  full-faced  type,  and  ignore  the  2  per  cent. 

I  would  concentrate  on  this  subject  until  it  is  under- 
stood, —  and  so  simple  a  consideration  can  be  understood. 
I  would  dwell  on  it  until  it  has  become  all  but  automatic 
to  carry  out  the  instructions.  Then,  when  we  have  cut 
the  sentences  down,  disposed  of  connectives  and  super- 
fluous words,  and  made  clear  the  simple  elements  in 
the  construction  of  the  sentences,  we  have  laid  the  basis 
of  teacWng  the  rest  of  the  grammar  with  absolute  ease. 

Q 


226  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Every  high  school  teacher  and  every  upper-grade  gram- 
mar school  teacher  knows  that  the  serious  weakness  on  the 
part  of  the  children  is  the  failure  to  recognize  the  sentence 
as  a  unit.  The  plan  is  to  proceed  from  the  sentence  to 
its  parts,  and  to  study  these  parts  only  as  constituents 
of  the  sentence.  Every  new  acquisition  is  to  be  gained 
from  the  consideration  of  a  multitude  of  simple  sentences. 

Notice  in  passing  that  there  is  involved  merely  a  simple 
subject  and  predicate,  and  furthermore,  not  a  modified 
subject  or  predicate.  The  subject  and  predicate  may, 
and  in  many  cases  will,  be  modified ;  the  point  is  that 
the  teacher  is  to  pay  no  attention  to  the  modifications. 

The  teacher  may  then  grapple  with  the  three  great 
considerations,  noun,  pronoun,  and  verb;  and,  I  believe, 
they  should  be  taken  in  the  order  named.  But  there 
are  limitations.  In  the  first  place,  consider  the  verb 
(Group  D),  see  Exhibit  B.  Here  are  six  kinds  of  errors. 
But  there  are  great  discrepancies.  The  total  percentage 
involved  is  23,  and  out  of  that  as  much  as  14  per  cent 
is  taken  up  with  such  a  simple  consideration  as  errors  in 
tense  {drunk  for  drank,  begun  for  began).  Then  we  take 
a  big  drop  down  to  4  per  cent,  and  come  to  the  use  of  the 
perfect  tense  for  perfect  participle,  which  is  very  nearly 
the  same  error.  Grouping  these  similar  errors,  we  have 
18  per  cent.  They  are  emphasized  by  being  printed  in 
full-faced  type.  Then  we  get  down  to  the  insignificant 
percentage  of  2,  in  the  use  of  lie  and  lay,  sit  and  set.  I 
confess  that  the  fe^vness  of  errors  of  this  kind  surprises 
me.     What  will  the  elementary  language  books  do  if  we 


LANGUAGE  227 

take  out  all  the  pages  devoted  to  lie  and  lay,  set  and  sit? 
The  exhibit  reaches  bottom  in  three  other  errors,  each 
registering  i  per  cent.  First,  there  is  the  wrong  use  or 
omission  of  to  in  the  infinitive  mode ;  second,  the  wrong 
use  of  the  subjunctive  mode;  and,  finally,  errors  in  the 
use  of  shall  and  will. 

Now  for  a  moment  consider  the  first  two  errors  of  this 
group  (18  per  cent),  taking  in  the  errors  in  the  irregular 
forms  of  the  verb,  and  consider  that  this  is  such  a  simple 
kind  of  error  that  it  is  easy  to  handle  if  we  are  disposed  to 
concentrate.  Are  not  results  in  sight  when  such  a  view  of 
the  case  is  taken?  My  suggestion  is  that  this  view  be 
taken  and  that  the  verb  be  considered  only  in  its  rela- 
tion to  tense,  and  mainly  in  its  relations  to  two  of  its 
tenses,  the  imperfect  and  the  perfect,  and  to  the  participle. 

In  the  case  of  nouns  and  pronouns,  the  subject  of 
the  next  group  (E),  I  note  the  following  facts:  The 
total  per  cent  of  errors  is  16.  I  have  divided  this  section 
into  three  sub-sections.  The  first  relates  to  the  ante- 
cedents of  pronouns  and  takes  in  three  headings:  the 
agreement  of  pronoun  with  its  antecedent,  antecedent 
doubtful,  no  antecedent.  Total,  8  per  cent.  The  second 
relates  to  the  possessive  of  nouns  (4  per  cent)  and  pro- 
nouns (i  per  cent).  The  next  two  considerations  relate 
to  the  form  of  the  objective,  i  per  cent,  and  the  confusion 
of  who,  which,  and  that,  2  per  cent.  Let  us  select  from  the 
whole  group  the  sub-group  of  antecedents  as  one  essential, 
and  the  possessive  nouns  as  another,  ignore  the  rest,  and 
go  on.    The  question  of  the  antecedent  of  pronouns,  often 


228  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

quite  difficult,  is  not  very  difficult  if  we  wait,  probably 
until  the  sixth  grade  is  reached,  and  if  the  ground  is 
prepared  so  that  we  may  concentrate  on  this  point. 

The  sixth  group,  F,  relates  to  prepositions.  It  takes 
up  6  per  cent  of  the  errors,  of  which  the  misuse  of 
prepositions  covers  5.  The  other  i  per  cent  refers  to 
the  varying  of  the  particle  in  a  sentence  containing  two 
or  more  words,  or  two  or  more  clauses,  each  demanding  a 
different  particle.  Correct  the  5  per  cent  item.  Ignore 
the  I  per  cent. 

The  subject  of  prepositions  belongs,  I  consider,  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  sixth  grade,  or  to  the  seventh.  It  is 
a  difficult  subject,  even  for  older  pupils.  It  is  always 
an  interesting  subject,  if  it  is  properly  conducted.  The 
most  that  a  teacher  can  succeed  in  doing  is,  I  think,  to  get 
into  the  pupil's  head  the  idea  that  there  is  a  difference 
in  force  in  the  use  of  prepositions,  and  to  induce  him  to 
think  of  it.  The  control  of  this  matter  is  a  pretty  late 
development. 

We  come  down  very  low  in  the  next  group,  G,  which 
relates  to  errors  in  the  use  of  articles,  4  per  cent,  in- 
cluding the  wrong  use  of  an  article,  3  per  cent,  unneces- 
sary use  of  article,  i  per  cent.  I  should  say,  pay  no 
attention  to  this  group,  or  the  next  and  last,  which  can 
muster  but  3  per  cent  of  errors.  This  is  the  adverb 
group,  and  includes  the  dreaded  double  negative,  and 
the  unpardonable  sin  of  saying  "badly"  for  "bad,"  and 
the  reverse.     Is  not  a  bugbear  suggested  ? 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind,  I  trust,  that  I  am  confining 


LANGUAGE  229 

my  attention  to  grammar.  The  earliest  attention  of  a 
teacher,  of  course,  should  be  given  to  matters  that  relate 
to  the  form  of  the  composition,  say  margin,  indentation, 
the  beginning  of  a  sentence  with  a  capital  and  terminat- 
ing with  a  period,  and  the  capitalization  of  pronoun  /. 
I  thinli  that  these  matters  should  be  insisted  on,  at  first, 
to  the  exclusion  of  considerations  of  grammar. 

Let  us  now  sum  up.  According  to  the  showing  of 
this  investigation,  there  are  just  seven  questions  in 
grammar  that  should  occupy  the  teacher's  attention  as 
far  as  correction  of  speech  is  concerned;  the  excessive 
use  of  connectives,  i6  per  cent;  the  use  of  superfluous 
words,  15  per  cent ;  the  relation  of  subject  and  predicate, 
14  per  cent ;  errors  in  tense  involving  the  imperfect  and 
perfect  for  the  most  part,  i8  per  cent;  considerations 
relating  to  the  antecedent  of  the  pronoun,  8  per  cent; 
the  possessive  of  the  noun,  4  per  cent ;  and  the  misuse  of 
prepositions,  5  per  cent.  Total,  80  per  cent,  leaving  20 
per  cent  of  errors  scattered  variously  through  fifteen 
other  considerations.  Are  not  the  limitations  of  the 
field  and  the  character  of  the  errors  that  make  up  the  80 
per  cent  instructive,  not  to  say  startling  ? 

Here  are  the  points  of  grammar  that  would  be  de- 
manded :  Conjunctions  (copulative  only) ;  subject  and 
predicate  ;  perfect,  imperfect,  and  present  tenses  of  verb ; 
relative  pronoun  in  relation  to  antecedent;  possessive 
nouns,  prepositions.  Here  are  six  elementary  considera- 
tions of  grammar  on  which  if  we  place  careful  and  concen- 
trated attention  we  shall  clear  up  80  per  cent  of  the  errors. 


230  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Let  no  one  say  that  to  teach  these  matters  we  must 
also  teach  the  other  facts  of  grammar  in  order  that  we 
may  understand  them.  Every  teacher  knows  that, 
except  to  a  very  trifling  extent,  such  a  statement  is  not 
correct.  It  is  not  necessary  to  teach  mode  to  understand 
tense.  To  teach  the  imperfect  tense  of  a  verb  it  is 
simply  necessary  to  teach  the  verb  and  then  the  tense. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  teach  the  objective  to  understand 
the  possessive.  Some  one  may  say  that  it  is  necessary 
to  teach  proper  nouns  in  order  that  we  may  teach  capital- 
ization. Is  that  really  so?  Cannot  we  say  that  the 
name  of  a  person  or  a  country  should  begin  with  a  capital 
without  teaching  grammar?  In  a  word,  simplicity  in 
teaching  is  imperative.  Grammatical  principles  must  be 
taught.  They  are  best  taught  when  too  much  is  not  at- 
tempted. It  is  not  a  question  of  how  much  ground  is  cov- 
ered, but  a  proper  selection  of  material  and  of  emphasis. 

How  much  of  a  book  could  be  made  out  of  the  seven 
considerations  presented  by  this  study,  involving  the 
aforesaid  six  elementary  considerations  in  grammar? 
Let  each  teacher  make  such  a  book,  with  proper  develop- 
ment and  suflficient  number  of  exercises;  the  book  will 
hardly  be  thick  enough  to  make  it  worth  any  pubUsher's 
while  to  pubHsh  it. 

How  much  grammar  is  left  out?  It  would  try  the 
patience  of  any  reader  if  I  should  answer  this  question. 
In  the  Trenton  course  of  study,  which  I  issued,  I  wrote  as 
follows:  "The  pupil  when  he  reaches  this  [seventh] 
grade  should  be  able  to  recognize  the  parts  of  speech  and 


LANGUAGE  23 I 

should  know  simple  definitions.  He  should  know  the 
modifications  of  the  noun,  pronoun,  and  verb  (except 
modes,  tenses,  and  voice),  and  the  functions  of  the  adverb, 
adjective,  preposition,  and  conjunction ;  he  should 
understand  the  construction  of  a  simple  sentence  and 
be  able  to  analyze  it,  and  should  understand  the  com- 
pound subject  and  predicate."  I  thought  when  I  wrote 
this  paragraph  four  years  ago  that  I  was  exceedingly 
conservative,  but  the  paragraph  makes  me  smile.  There 
is  scarcely  a  statement  in  it  that  is  not  contradicted  by 
the  present  paper.  If  the  conclusions  of  this  paper  are  to 
be  trusted,  it  is  not  necessary  to  recognize  the  parts  of 
speech  and  to  know  the  modifications  of  a  noun,  pronoun, 
and  verb,  nor  the  functions  of  the  adverb  and  adjective, 
nor  the  compound  subject  and  predicate;  and  in  the 
same  paragraph  where  I  have  said  it  is  not  necessary  to 
understand  tenses,  I  must  now  say  it  is  necessary  to 
understand  two  tenses.     So  much  for  theory. 

Another  illustration  is  the  following  paragraph  (sixth 
grade);  it  reads  as  follows:  ''Teach  the  modifications 
of  noun  and  pronoun;  person,  number,  gender,  and 
case.  Teach  nouns  as  common  and  proper.  Teach 
the  classes  of  pronouns.  Drill  in  the  use  of  who,  which, 
what,  whose,  and  whom,  with  reference  to  the  errors  made 
in  their  use."  If  I  had  to  write  that  paragraph  again, 
I  think  I  should  observe  the  language  of  bills  intro- 
duced in  the  Legislature  to  dispose  of  certain  laws. 
They  do  not  attack  the  body  of  the  law.  They  simply 
strike  out  the  enacting  clause.     The   paragraph  is  all 


232  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

right  if,  before  the  word  "teach,"  you  insert  the  words 
"do  not." 

It  may  be  objected  that  in  the  foregoing  sketch  of  a 
course  of  study  my  order  of  introducing  what  I  have 
styled  the  essential  errors  is  arbitrary.  It  may  be  some- 
what, but  not  absolutely.  I  offer  figures.  Look  at  Ex- 
hibit C.  The  per  cents  there  given  are  found  by  dividing 
the  number  of  errors  of  a  given  kind  in  a  grade  by  the 
whole  number  of  errors  in  that  grade.    Notice  that  I  have 

ExmsiT  C 
General  Classification  of  Errors  with  Percentages 
See  Exhibit  B.     (Error  43  not  included.) 

I.  Essential  Errors. 

First  Class               Comtectives           Grade      4  5  (5  7  8 

a.  Extravagant  use  of  connectives    ...     20  13  16  14  6 

b.  Two  errors  in  sentence  formation  (5  and  i)  18  16  12  11  7 

c.  Two  errors  in  form  of  verb  (23  and  24)   .     22  15  14  iq  10 

Total  per  cent 60    44    42    44     23 

Second  Class 

a.  Antecedents S  8  10      811 

b.  Possessive  nouns 4  6  4       6       4 

c.  Prepositions 4  7  4^6 

Total  per  cent 13     21     18     19     21 

II.  Subordinate  Errors.     (.\11  on  Exhibit  B  except  the  above 
and  No.  43.     Fifteen  errors.) 

Total  per  cent 15     23     18     20     16 

considered  in  this  exhibit :  (i)  essential  errors,  those  we 
have  just  been  considering  (the  full-faced  t}-pe  errors  of 
Exhibit  B),  and  (2)  subordinate  errors,  namely,  the 
errors  in  italics  on  Exhibit  B.     I  desire  to  confine  your 


LANGUAGE  233 

attention  to  (i).  I  have  subdivided  these  errors  into 
two  classes,  each  containing  three  kinds  of  errors.  Notice 
that  I  can  do  so,  because  even  in  the  so-called  essential 
errors  there  is  a  very  clearly  marked  dividing  line  ex- 
pressed by  the  figures.  So  far  as  percentages  go,  the 
three  members  of  each  section  belong  where  I  have 
placed  them.  The  figures  in  the  first  class  are  generally 
large  and  in  the  second  generally  small. 

I  think  that  two  important  considerations  emerge 
from  an  inspection  of  this  table.  First,  the  popularity 
of  error  is  all  on  the  side  of  the  first  class  of  errors,  and 
I  have  assumed  that  popularity  of  error  should  be  an  im- 
portant indication  in  determining  the  order  in  which  error 
should  be  taken  up,  the  purpose  being  to  get  the  great 
mass  of  error  out  of  the  way. 

My  second  consideration  involves  a  rather  curious 
inquiry.  Notice  in  the  first  class  of  errors,  considering 
total  per  cents,  that  there  is  a  general  diminution  of  error 
as  you  go  up  the  grades.  The  diminution  is  irregular 
(and  this  irregularity  will  come  up  for  consideration  at  a 
later  stage  in  this  discussion),  but  the  drop  is  clear  and 
positive.  But  in  the  second  class  there  is  no  gain.  There 
is  a  loss.  We  jump  from  13  per  cent  in  the  fourth 
grade  to  21  per  cent  in  the  fifth  grade,  and  there  we 
practically  stay.  Let  me  offer  a  theory  to  explain  this 
striking  condition  of  things.  In  dealing  with  the  first 
class  of  errors,  we  are  successful  in  part,  even  under 
present  methods  of  teaching,  and  that  fact  shows  that 
such  errors  lend  themselves  easily  to  treatment.     The 


234  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

presumption  is,  therefore,  that  if  we  concentrate  we 
can  do  much  more.  I  think  that  is  a  fair  inference. 
But  in  dealing  with  the  second  class  of  errors,  note  that 
we  make  no  progress.  If  we  made  a  little  progress,  we 
could  hope  that  with  concentration  such  errors  would  ad- 
mit of  treatment.  But  we  lose  ground.  The  inference 
would  seem  to  be  that  here  is  a  class  of  errors  to  be  post- 
poned to  a  more  advanced  stage  of  development,  and  to 
a  time  when  we  shall  be  free  to  take  them  by  themselves. 
At  least  it  seems  reasonable  that  a  class  of  errors  that 
evidently  admits  of  treatment  should  be  considered 
earlier  than  a  class  where  the  possibihty  of  treatment  is 
very  much  less  evident.  I  think  that  this  table  goes  far 
toward  justifying  my  order  of  treatment. 

Now  for  the  subordinate  errors,  the  20  per  cent  of 
scattering  errors  that  occur  in  the  groups  of  Exhibit  B, 
which  I  have  been  discussing.  They  are  the  italicized 
errors. 

Can  these  errors  be  ignored  ?  I  answer  unhesitatingly, 
as  far  as  formal  teaching  is  concerned,  yes ;  and  I  make 
this  answer  in  the  interests  of  concentration.  There  may 
be  correction  of  such  errors,  of  course,  but  it  should  be 
of  the  most  incidental  character,  not  as  a  rule  to  be 
learned  nor  as  a  fact  to  be  accounted  for.  Would  I  let 
the  pupil  go  on  making  mistakes  in  such  matters,  as,  for 
instance,  the  number  of  the  verb,  when  the  subject  is 
compound,  or  the  double  negative,  or  lie  for  lay  ?  Yes, 
that  is  precisely  what  I  would  do.  Recall,  by  way  of 
illustration,  this  sage  suggestion  from  experienced  teachers 


LANGUAGE  235 

in  the  matter  of  discipline:  ''Do  not  see  all  the  wrong 
things  that  are  going  on  in  your  classroom ;  be  conven- 
iently blind  sometimes."  There  are  some  teachers  who 
note  everything.  There  are  other  teachers  who  see 
everything,  but  do  not  look  at  everything.  The  wise 
teacher  sooner  or  later  ranges  himself  in  the  latter  class. 
He  knows  that  many  things  will  correct  themselves 
and  do  not  need  his  attention.  Here  we  have  a  principle 
that  holds  good  also  in  the  acquisition  of  learning, 
a  principle  that  many  and  many  a  teacher  does  not 
know ;  namely,  that  there  are  many  things  that  children 
will  learn  without  anybody's  help.  Dr.  J.  M.  Rice,  in 
his  excellent  essay  on  spelling,  makes  this  very  sage 
remark:  ''There  are  many  words  belonging  to  maturer 
years,  easy  to  spell  when  the  time  for  their  introduction 
occurs."     Why  is  this  not  true  as  regards  grammar  ? 

Again,  teachers  leave  out  of  account  this  great  principle 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  trained  power  of  observa- 
tion, that  in  teaching  any  subject  there  ought  always  to 
be  two  requirements,  one  the  facts,  and  the  other  the 
power  of  acquiring  facts  by  one's  self.  For  instance,  re- 
ferring to  spelling,  the  teacher  errs  if  he  expects  a  child 
to  learn  in  school  all  the  words  that  he  is  ever  going  to 
use.  Every  rational  teacher  knows  that  a  comparatively 
limited  vocabulary  is  the  outcome  of  the  school  course. 
Subsequent  acquirements  are  to  grow  out  of  a  trained 
power  of  observation.  This  means  that  the  power  of 
taking  in  the  image  of  the  word  rapidly  and  accurately 
must  be  acquired.     If  this  end  be  attained,  the  actual 


236  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

vocabulary  of  the  pupil  is  a  subordinate  matter.  He 
then  has  the  power  of  accurate  seeing,  and  the  accurate 
power  of  expressing  what  he  sees.  Now,  in  language, 
whether  English  or  French,  the  same  psychological 
state  of  things  exists. 

Again,  in  teaching  one  thing,  we  unconsciously  teach 
another ;  that  is  to  say,  in  all  good  teaching  there  is  a 
tendency  to  accuracy  and  even  to  a  knowledge  that 
exists  beyond  the  thing  taught.  I  quote  again  from  Dr. 
Hill,  who  very  felicitously  described  this  phenomenon  as 
the  "gracious  overflow."  If  one  exercises  his  right 
arm  for  three  months,  and  neglects  his  left  arm,  he  will 
find  at  the  end  of  that  time  that  while  his  right  arm 
has  made  a  great  gain  in  strength  his  left  arm  has 
also  made  some  gain.  The  same  principle  holds  in  in- 
tellectual activity.  To  our  surprise,  we  often  find  that 
matters  that  we  have  not  taught  at  all,  but  that  have 
some  similarity  to  matters  that  we  have  taught,  are  just 
as  well  acquired  as  the  latter  class. 

Therefore,  I  am  optimistic  and  look  for  a  constant 
diminution  of  these  subordinate  errors  as  a  result  of  what 
I  may  describe  as  incidental  teaching.  I  beUeve,  for  in- 
stance, that  the  double  negative,  of  which  we  have  i  per 
cent  in  our  eight  thousand,  five  hundred  odd  errors,  could 
be  all  but  extinguished,  and  that  lie  and  lay  would  settle 
themselves,  not  through  teaching,  but  through  sugges- 
tion, if  a  hahit  of  mind  toward  accuracy  in  essentials  could 
be  formed,  a  thing  that  I  have  claimed  is  the  most  im- 
portant outcome  of  teaching.    This,  of  course,  is  a  theory. 


LANGUAGE  237 

But  the  teacher  of  grammar  is  now  a  theorist,  and  often  a 
hopeless  theorist.  If  existing  theories  came  out  anywhere, 
we  might  urge  them  with  more  confidence.  But  look  at 
Exhibit  C.  In  the  last  Une  all  these  subordinate,  non- 
essential errors  now  under  discussion  are  grouped.  In 
the  fourth  grade  they  furnish  15  per  cent  of  the  errors, 
and  in  the  eighth,  i6  per  cent.  In  the  intervening  grades 
the  percentages  are  higher.  No  great  success  here,  is 
there  ?     We  could  not  do  much  worse. 

But  the  principal  answer  to  the  contention  of  the 
teacher  that  these  subordinate  errors,  as  well  as  the  more 
important  errors,  must  be  taught  specifically  is  this. 
The  facts  show  that  children  do  not  make  these  errors, 
that  is  to  say,  they  make  them  so  seldom  that  there  is 
no  opportunity  to  give  requisite  practice  in  their  cor- 
rection. What  is  the  use  of  correcting  an  error  that  a 
child  does  not  make  ?  To  give  the  requisite  practice  we 
must  get  up  a  very  artificial  state  of  things  and  bring 
about  these  errors.  Is  that  a  very  philosophical  course 
of  procedure  ?  I  mean  this,  that  we  must  not  only  have 
precept,  but  example,  and  it  is  just  as  bad  pedagogy  in 
the  teaching  of  language  as  it  is  in  the  teaching  of  morals 
to  suppose  wicked  things  for  the  sake  of  correcting  them. 

One  more  consideration  at  this  point,  which,  perhaps, 
will  allay  the  fears  of  the  hypersensitive  teacher  who 
cannot  pass  over  a  single  error.  If  errors  are  made  so 
seldom  that  we  do  not  get  any  chance  to  correct  them, 
they  are  not  made  often  enough  to  form  a  habit,  so  it  is 
as  well  not  to  worry.     Seriously,  this  word  ''habit"  is 


238  BETTER  SCHOOLS 

the  keynote  to  the  whole  discussion.  The  purpose  of 
teaching  grammar,  as  far  as  its  use  in  speaking  and  writing 
is  concerned,  is  to  break  bad  habits  and  to  prevent  the 
formation  of  new  ones.  Bad  habits  need  practice,  and 
if  practice  is  impossible,  the  habit,  at  best,  is  improbable. 

But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  errors  that  were  not 
made  at  all,  or  were  made  so  seldom  that  their  use  did 
not  reach  one  half  per  cent  ?  In  Exhibit  A  these  errors 
are  indicated  in  plain  Roman  type.  They  do  not  appear 
in  Exhibit  B.     Look  over  the  list.     It  is  appaUing. 

But  we  must  drop  lower  still.  Much  of  the  time  spent 
in  teaching  grammar  is  given  to  considerations  in 
which  error  is  impossible.  In  the  foregoing  discussion  we 
have  considered  errors  as  probable  or  improbable,  but 
in  all  cases  they  were  errors.  In  much  grammar  teaching, 
however,  the  considerations  do  not  admit  of  the  possi- 
biHty  of  error.  Prepositions  govern  the  objective  case. 
In  Latin,  or  German,  the  government  by  the  preposition 
is  a  serious  matter,  but  what  about  the  English  noun  ? 
Is  it  possible  to  make  any  errors  ?  This  is  an  illustration 
of  a  large  class  of  considerations,  which  take  up  much  of 
our  time.  They  relate  to  matters  concerning  which  the 
child  could  not  make  an  error  if  he  tried. 

I  now  ask  attention  once  more  to  Exhibit  B,  in  which 
an  important  consideration  is  indicated.  Look  at  each 
group  and  compare  the  column  headed  Fourth  Grade  with 
the  column  headed  Eighth  Grade,  and  notice  the  figures. 
These  figures  indicate  the  number  of  errors  per  hundred 
pupils  in  each  grade.     In  Group  A,  considering  the  ex- 


LANGUAGE  239 

cessive  use  of  connectives,  we  have  sixty-six  errors  per 
hundred  pupils  in  the  fourth,  against  ten  in  the  eighth. 
Here  is  a  large  reduction;  but  does  it  not  seem  that  this 
error  should  have  been  extinguished  by  the  end  of  the 
sixth  grade?  Is  it  not  a  comparatively  simple  error? 
In  the  other  groups  the  showing  is  worse  (the  sub-group  of 
antecedents,  for  example).     In  Exhibit  D  I  have  brought 

Exhibit  D 
A  Summary  of  Errors  to  Show  the  Progress  of  the  Grades 

I.  Consideration   of   six   of   the   seven    essential    errors.     (43 

omitted.     See  paper.) 

Grade       4         5  6         7  S 

No.  of  errors  per  I cx)  pupils  ....  253  215  202  126  71 
Same  reduced  to  a  basis  of  100  as  a 

grand  total 29       25       23       15        8 

II.  Consideration  of  all  errors  except  43  and  44. 

Grade  45678 

No.  of  errors  per  100  pupils  ....  312  292  277  177  loi 
Same  reduced  to  basis  of  100  as  grand 

total 27      25      24      15        9 

together  the  errors  under  the  headings  that  I  have  classed 
as  essential,  excluding  the  errors  under  the  heading  of 
Superfluous  Words,  Group  B.  I  exclude  this  group  be- 
cause, as  I  have  stated,  the  error  is  not  one  of  grammar, 
although  a  prohiic  source  of  grammatical  error ;  and  to 
ascertain  the  degree  of  success  attained  in  extinguishing 
grammatical  error  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  errors 
by  themselves.  Taken  from  this  point  of  view,  the 
figures  per  hundred  pupils  are  as  follows  (see  Exhibit  D, 
I):  Fourth  grade,  253;  fifth,  215;  sixth,  202;  seventh, 


240  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

126;  eighth,  71.  Bringing  these  to  the  basis  of  100, 
the  following  figures  result:  29,  25,  23,  15,  8.  There  is 
seen,  therefore,  a  steady  reduction  in  error  from  beginning 
to  end;  but  it  does  not  seem  Hke  a  very  great  triumph, 
when  in  the  eighth  grade,  considering  errors  in  funda- 
mental considerations  only,  there  are  still  nearly  one 
tliird  as  many  as  there  were  in  the  fourth  grade.  Surely 
in  these  simple  considerations  we  should  have  reached 
extermination.  Why  have  we  not  reached  extermina- 
tion? Because,  I  reiterate,  we  have  spread  our  effort 
over  too  wide  an  area.     We  have  not  concentrated. 

But  suppose  we  take  all  the  errors  of  Exhibit  B,  Httle 
and  big,  leaving  out  again  the  superfluous  words  (see 
Exhibit  D,  II);  then,  on  the  basis  of  100,  the  relations 
would  be  27,  25,  24, 15,  9.  It  will  be  seen  here,  comparing 
the  fourth  grade  with  the  eighth,  that  we  have  made  a 
reduction  of  just  two  thirds,  not  so  much,  indeed,  as 
when  only  essential  errors  were  considered.  It  is  ap- 
parent, therefore,  in  attempting  to  do  so  much,  we  have 
not  succeeded  in  the  essentials,  and  we  have  succeeded 
even  more  poorly  in  the  non-essentials. 

But  the  principal  fact  that  I  deduce  from  these  last 
figures  is  this  :  I  refer  to  I  in  Exhibit  D.  If  we  can  get 
from  twenty-nine  in  the  fourth  grade  down  to  fifteen  and 
eight  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  why  could  we  not 
by  concentrating  on  the  essential  errors  entirely  extermi- 
nate them  so  as  to  leave,  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades 
at  least,  zeros,  so  far  as  these  essentials  are  concerned? 
I  believe  that  it  could  be  done.     If  it  could,  behold 


LANGUAGE  24 1 

a  twofold  outcome:  first,  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades 
are  left  clear  for  the  teaching  of  grammar  as  a  science; 
and  second,  we  have  obtained  a  trained  habit  of  accuracy 
in  expression  and  a  studenthke  attitude  toward  grammar. 
To  these  may  be  added  a  third,  which  is  probable;  namely, 
a  more  kindly  state  of  mind.  That  is  to  say,  the  student 
has  not  yet  learned  to  hate  grammar,  and  if  it  is  properly 
manipulated  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  I  see  no 
reason  why  he  should  hate  it  there.  To  tell  the  truth,  I 
am  a  httle  doubtful  about  the  seventh  grade.  I  should 
favor  taking  up  the  subject  in  the  seventh,  if  at  all,  in  a 
very  extensive  way,  leaving  the  more  intensive  treatment 
to  the  eighth  grade ;  how  intensive  we  have  no  means  of 
knowing.  You  see,  this  is  a  plea  rather  for  the  study 
of  grammar  than  for  the  neglect  of  it.  I  think  the  high 
school  teachers  have  a  right  to  demand  this  preparation, 
but  they  will  never  get  it  as  long  as  we  muddle  the  sub- 
ject as  we  do. 

I  am  still  doubtful  concerning  the  formal  study  of 
grammar  before  the  child  reaches  the  eighth  grade, 
and  I  hope  that  this  study  may  throw  a  Httle  hght  on 
the  time  for  beginning  such  formal  consideration  of  the 
subject.  Here  are  the  figures  that  seem  to  bear  on  the 
subject.  Notice,  first,  a  peculiarity  in  Exhibit  D.  In 
I  the  number  of  errors  per  hundred  pupils  drops  from 
253  to  126  in  passing  from  the  fourth  to  the  seventh 
grade,  a  drop  of  one  half ;  when  we  pass  from  the  seventh 
to  the  eighth  grade,  we  drop  from  126  to  71,  again  about 
one  half  (44  per  cent).     In  II,  where  all  the  errors  of 


242  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

Exhibit  B  are  considered,  the  drop  from  the  fourth  to 
the  seventh  is  43  per  cent,  and  from  the  seventh  to  the 
eighth,  43  per  cent.  You  see  that,  even  under  present 
conditions,  we  make  in  one  year,  from  the  seventh  to  the 
eighth,  the  same  progress  as  in  the  three  preceding  years 
taken  together.  This  condition  of  things  may  have  two 
explanations ;  either  the  teacher  is  teaching  more  grammar 
in  the  eighth  grade  or  the  mind  has  become  ready  for  it. 
I  do  not  ascribe  this  phenomenon  to  the  former  cause,  at 
least  to  any  great  extent,  for  these  reasons:  first,  my 
test  was  taken  in  January,  when  the  eighth  year  was 
not  half  gone ;  second,  the  teachers  had  been  teaching 
more  or  less  grammar  right  along  in  the  other  grades; 
third,  it  is  contrary  to  experience  that  what  a  child  learns 
in  his  grammar  lessons  should  appear  in  his  composition. 
I  am  disposed,  therefore,  to  look  on  these  figures  as  indi- 
cating the  eighth  grade  as  the  proper  time  for  beginning 
the  study  for  formal  grammar.  The  figures  do  not 
prove  this  proposition,  but  they  give  it  a  strong  prob- 
ability. 

Indeed,  is  not  a  suspicion  forced  on  the  mind,  from  a 
general  consideration  of  the  figures  of  Exhibit  D,  that 
our  present  methods  in  grammar  take  little  account  of 
the  fact  of  the  child's  mental  development  ?  Even  vdih 
the  present  methods,  ought  we  not  to  accomplish  more 
than  we  do  ?  We  have  skillful  teacliing,  and  our  teachers 
work  hard  enough.  I  suspect  that  if  these  figures  that 
I  am  offering  could  speak,  they  would  say,  "You  are 
taking  up  the  consideration  of  difiicult  matters  before  the 


LANGUAGE  243 

mind  is  prepared  for  them ;  you  therefore  fail  and  must 
fail."  But  it  does  not  seem  to  be  a  bold  assumption 
that  the  simple  considerations,  which  the  results  of  this 
study  indicate  as  essential,  are  probably  not  in  advance  of 
the  condition  of  a  child  at  the  time  he  must  be  taught.  I 
beUeve  that,  in  hmiting  ourselves  to  such  considerations, 
we  would  be  obeying  the  indications  of  nature  at  the  same 
time  that  we  were  wiping  out  the  80  per  cent  of  error. 

What  about  the  language  books  that  are  issued  in 
such  great  numbers  ?  I  do  not  know.  I  suggest  to  the 
teacher  to  take  a  blue  pencil  and  open  one  of  those 
language  books,  and,  in  view  of  what  I  have  offered,  see 
how  much  she  can  do  with  that  blue  pencil.  Yet  I 
believe  in  a  language  book,  and  I  have,  for  years  before 
I  made  this  investigation,  had  it  in  my  mind  to  try  to 
write  a  language  book  on  the  basis  of  such  an  investi- 
gation as  this.  Now  that  I  have  made  the  investiga- 
tion I  feel  more  like  it  than  ever,  but  I  suppose  I  shall 
never  have  time  to  do  it.     I  hope  some  one  else  will. 

It  may  be  urged  that  all  the  findings  of  this  investi- 
gation would  be  altered  in  getting  results  from  schools 
in  which  there  is  a  large  foreign  element.  I  have  had 
some  experience  with  a  large  foreign  population  since  I 
made  this  investigation,  and  I  have  found  out  that  their 
errors  are  all  their  own.  Nevertheless,  I  believe  there 
comes  a  time,  even  in  the  case  of  a  foreign  child,  when 
the  considerations  to  which  I  allude  will  apply.  Besides, 
I  am  discussing  Enghsh  as  a  vernacular,  and  not  as  a 
foreign  language. 


244  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

I  have  spoken  of  seven  considerations.  That  is  a 
small  number,  but  it  will  prove  to  be  a  very 
large  number  if  the  teacher  tries  to  teach  them  all  at 
once.  I  reiterate,  in  closing,  the  word  which  I  have  used 
many  times  in  this  study,  and  which  should  be  the 
slogan  for  all  teachers  of  grammar,  and,  indeed,  of 
everything  else,  "concentrate."  To  correct  everything  is 
pedagogically  wrong.  It  distributes  the  child's  atten- 
tion over  many  points,  and  gives  close  attention  to 
nothing.  It  is  far  better  pedagogy  to  concentrate 
attention  on  one  error  until  that  is  disposed  of,  con- 
veniently ignoring  all  others.  Bear  in  mind  that  mental 
processes  can  become  reflex  just  Uke  physical  processes. 

May  I  paraphrase  an  ancient  saying,  and  say  again 
that  the  grammar  was  made  for  the  child,  and  not  the 
child  for  the  grammar  ? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

History 

Properly  taught,  history  should  reveal  man's  rela- 
tionship to  his  neighbor,  to  his  country,  and  to  his  race. 
It  affords  fine  opportunities  for  moral  development,  and 
for  revealing  the  consciousness  of  higher  citizenship. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  effective  subjects  for  training  pupils 
to  think  truly  in  regard  to  great  national  questions,  and 
their  relationship  to  everyday  life.  It  relates  man's  pro- 
gressive steps  toward  a  higher  civilization,  and  should 
be  a  guide  toward  still  higher  conditions.  It  should 
arouse  a  deeper  and  more  vital  interest  in  literature 
and  geography. 

History  should  be  based  on  biography.  A  consecutive 
history  of  the  world's  evolution  might  be  prepared  by 
writing  the  Hves  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  successive 
epochs.  Young  children  are  deeply  interested  in  the 
stories  of  the  lives  of  real  men  and  women.  Even  in 
the  lowest  primary  classes,  these  stories  should  be  told 
to  the  children.  In  addition  to  these,  such  stories  as  the 
Greek  myths,  Robinson  Crusoe,  and  Hiawatha,  lay 
foundations  and  arouse  apperceptive  centers  for  historical 
interests  in  the  minds  of  the  very  young.  These  should 
be  followed  by  such  stories  as  those  of  Joseph,  Moses, 

245 


246  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

David,  Esther,  William  Tell,  Alfred  the  Great,  Bruce, 
Columbus,  George  Stevenson,  Horatius,  Captain  Cook, 
Shakespeare,  Napcjleon,  Lord  Nelson,  Cromwell,  Wash- 
ington, Luther,  Watt,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  the  Early 
Pioneers  in  America,  Paul  Revere,  Daniel  Boone,  the 
Retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand  under  Xenophon,  etc. 
With  the  minds  of  the  pupils  stored  with  stories  of 
epoch-making  men  and  women,  it  is  easy  to  arouse  a 
deep  interest  in  the  history  of  their  periods,  and  of  all 
related  periods.  These  stories  retold  by  the  pupils  give 
excellent  training  in  language,  whether  told  orally  or  in 
the  form  of  composition. 

The  great  mistake  in  teaching  history  in  the  past  has 
been  to  regard  it  chiefly  as  a  record  of  wars.  Stories 
of  national  quarrels,  of  battles,  of  sieges,  of  the  destruction 
of  life,  —  these  have  been  the  leading  themes  of  historical 
textbooks.  Too  often  the  great  purpose  of  the  teacher 
has  been  to  drill  the  pupils  on  names,  and  dates,  and 
records,  to  the  neglect  of  the  great  fundamental  princi- 
ples that  underhe  history.  This  degradation  of  history 
has  resulted  from  the  fact  that  school  children  had  to 
pass  examinations  in  history.  Great  as  are  the  evil 
effects  of  final  examinations  in  lowering  the  ideals  of 
teachers,  parents,  and  children  in  regard  to  the  real 
meaning  of  education,  there  are  few  subjects  that  are 
robbed  of  interest  and  of  truly  developing  power  by 
examinations  as  completely  as  history. 

History  is  a  subject  that  should  be  continued  through- 
out life  after  school,  college,  and  university  life  are  over. 


HISTORY  247 

The  school  can  merely  arouse  an  interest  in  the  subject, 
and  train  in  its  independent  study.  Dr.  Arnold  said  that 
the  purposes  of  the  teacher  in  teaching  history  should 
be:  (a)  "To  convince  the  pupils  that  history  contains 
gold" ;   (b)  "To  train  them  to  dig  for  it." 

The  usual  practice  in  schools  is  to  supply  each  pupil 
with  the  same  textbook  in  history,  and  to  assign  lessons 
by  chapters  or  by  a  stated  number  of  pages.  This  is 
the  study  of  a  book,  not  an  intelligent  effort  to  arouse 
interest  and  to  guide  in  study,  so  as  to  form  the  habit  of 
individual  investigation.  Again,  the  primary  cause  of 
the  wrong  practice  has  been  the  fact  that  the  exami- 
nations were  regarded  as  of  such  importance,  and  that 
they  were  based  on  the  one  authorized  textbook.  When 
the  pupils  are  old  enough  to  begin  to  study  history,  it 
is  better  to  have  them  use  as  many  different  histories 
as  possible,  provided  that  they  are  properly  prepared. 
The  ideal  would  be  that  each  pupil  should  study  a  dif- 
ferent history,  and  compare  notes  in  the  classroom  under 
the  leadership  of  the  teacher,  if  enough  good  histories 
could  be  found. 

It  is  a  common  practice  for  the  teacher,  in  assigning  a 
new  lesson  in  history,  to  give  notes  of  the  facts  and  events 
to  be  committed  to  memory.  This  course  does  not 
develop  the  power  of  independent  investigation  on  the 
part  of  the  pupils,  nor  does  it  train  them  to  decide  which 
events  of  the  period  deserve  their  most  careful  study. 
The  study  of  history  should  train  the  judgment,  and 
not  merely  the  memory.    The  pupils  should  be  asked  to 


248  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

study  a  period,  to  note  the  great  events  of  that  period,  and 
to  record  them  in  the  order  of  importance  in  their  own 
judgment,  with  their  reasons  for  ranking  them  in  such  an 
order  in  relative  importance.  Such  a  course  of  training 
will  develop  the  judgment  of  the  pupils,  their  faith  in  them- 
selves, their  interest  in  the  subject,  and  their  individual 
power  to  study  history  profitably.  It  will  "  train  them  to 
dig  for  the  gold."  The  class  discussions  in  which  different 
pupils  give  their  reasons  for  considering  some  events  as  of 
greater  importance  than  others  will  give  clearer  ideas 
regarding  the  value  of  historical  study  than  can  be  com- 
municated in  any  other  way.  Such  training  will  arouse 
a  permanent  interest  in  historical  study,  and  will  also 
qualify  for  systematic  study  through  life. 

When  a  period  has  been  studied,  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
ask  the  pupils  to  select  the  one  leader  of  the  time  whose 
work  was  of  most  importance  to  his  country  and  to  the 
world.  To  do  this  and  to  prepare  to  give  reasons  for 
the  choice  made  will  contribute  definitely  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  pupils,  and  will  prepare  them  for  the  more 
thorough  study  of  any  subject  in  school  or  during 
after  life. 

In  the  higher  classes  pupils  should  be  led  to  use  the 
public  libraries  where  there  are  any  available,  in  order  to 
get  more  clear  and  more  comprehensive  ideas  in  regard 
to  historical  matters.  Differences  of  opinion  in  regard  to 
many  questions  are  sure  to  arise  in  the  classroom.  In 
such  cases  it  is  an  excellent  plan  to  appoint  a  small 
conMnittee  on  each  side  to  read  the  best  authorities  in  the 


HISTORY  249 

public  library  in  regard  to  the  questions  under  discus- 
sion, and  to  report  to  the  class  at  a  later  lesson.  Some- 
times it  is  advisable  to  ask  every  pupil  to  read  up  on  the 
debatable  subjects,  not  only  in  the  pubhc  Hbraries,  but 
in  their  home  libraries.  The  habit  of  using  a  public 
library  regularly  may  be  of  much  greater  advantage 
than  the  study  of  history. 

In  such  a  plan  of  studying  history  independently  it 
will  be  found  that  the  topical  method  of  teaching  and 
studying  will  be  a  most  excellent  one.  When  events  and 
principles  are  presented  in  chronological  order,  they  are 
certain  to  be  confusing  to  the  child's  mind.  He  will 
not  be  likely  to  gain  a  definite  view  of  the  complete 
evolution  of  any  of  the  great  elements  of  human  progress 
as  revealed  in  history.  If  constitutional  advancement, 
and  national  expansion,  and  religious  culture,  and  edu- 
cational progress,  and  literary  development,  and  social 
changes,  and  industrial  and  commercial  expansion,  and 
the  overthrow  of  tyranny,  and  the  wider  recognition  of 
individual  rights  and  human  liberty,  be  mixed  up  in  a 
sort  of  historical  hash  by  the  teacher,  the  pupil  fails  to 
get  a  clear  grasp  of  the  value  of  any  of  them,  or  of  their 
relationships  to  each  other,  or  to  higher  citizenship.  This 
is  especially  true,  if  these  vital  elements  are  subordinated, 
as  is  too  often  the  case,  to  wars  and  intrigues.  A  mer- 
chant requires  more  than  his  day  book  to  understand 
his  business.  He  needs  his  ledger  to  comprehend  his 
various  accounts  and  departments,  and  their  relationship 
to  each  other.    So,  in  history,  the  leading  departments  of 


25©  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

a  nation's  real  life  should  be  studied  separately  through  a 
century,  or  a  period,  or  through  the  entire  history  of  the 
nation,  in  order  that  pupils  may  clearly  understand  the 
progress  made  in  each  department,  and  its  relationship 
to  all  the  other  departments  of  national  Ufe  in  their  pro- 
gressive development. 

When  one  topic  has  been  followed  carefully  through 
the  lifetime  of  a  nation,  the  study  of  each  successive  topic 
becomes  more  easy,  and  more  illuminating.  Each  new 
topic  necessarily  reviews  the  work  of  the  former  studies, 
not  in  the  form  of  simple  repetition,  which  too  often 
passes  for  reviewing,  but  in  essential  relationship  between 
the  old  and  the  new,  which  is  the  only  truly  psychological 
process  of  reviewing. 

To  make  the  study  of  history  really  practical,  it  should 
be  associated  with  civics  and  government. 

When  the  history  of  the  United  States  has  been  studied 
down  to  the  present  time,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  begin  with 
present  conditions  of  development  in  government,  in 
freedom  of  the  people,  in  social  conditions,  in  industrial 
conditions,  in  education,  and  in  other  departments  of 
national  life,  and  to  trace  them  backward,  noting  the 
epochs  of  chief  transition  to  higher  and  better  conditions. 
A  student  knows  the  history  of  his  country  truly,  when 
he  has  followed  it  topically  from  the  beginning  through 
its  growth  processes  to  the  end,  and  then  reverses  this 
process  and  looks  backward  from  the  present  to  consider 
the  steps  in  the  progressive  sequence  that  led  to  present 
conditions.     We  understand  the  past  in  its  relationship  to 


HISTORY  251 

the  present.  We  comprehend  the  present  more  fully 
when  we  know  that  it  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the 
past.  The  clearer  knowledge  of  the  past  and  the  pres- 
ent should  qualify  us  to  do  our  duty  more  truly  in  the 
future. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Basic  Principles 

The  underlying  fundamental  principles  on  which  the 
methods  advocated  in  the  preceding  chapters  are  based 
are : 

1.  That  the  self -activity  of  the  child  is  all-important. 

2.  That  achieving  power,  rather  than  mere  memory- 
storing,  should  be  developed. 

3.  That  children  should  be  trained  so  that  they  may 
act  quickly,  correctly,  and  definitely  under  new  and  vary- 
ing conditions. 

4.  That  knowledge  itself  is  not  power. 

5.  That  the  child  himself  naturally  possesses  power 
that  may  be  developed,  and  that  the  chief  work  of 
schools  should  be  to  aid  the  child  in  promoting  his  best 
development  along  his  especial  power. 

6.  That  knowledge  related  both  to  culture  and  to 
practical  life  should  be  taught  to  the  child. 

7.  That  all  teaching  is  weak,  if  not  positively  evil, 
that  weakens  the  individual  power  of  the  child  by  the 
processes  used  in  communicating  knowledge  to  him. 

8.  That  all  educational  processes  based  mainly  on 
the  direct  development  of  the  child's  memory  are  in- 
efifective,   even  in   the  development  of  memory  itself, 

252 


BASIC  PRINCIPLES  253 

and  useless  in  the  cultivation  of  real  individual  executive 
power,  if  not  destructive  of  such  power. 

9.  That  the  true  test  of  education  is  not  how  much  a 
child  knows,  nor  merely  what  he  can  do,  but  what  he  can 
do  coupled  with  a  well-defined  tendency  to  do. 

The  vital  principle  of  self-activity  was  so  completely 
ignored  by  the  old  methods  of  teaching,  that  a  child  who 
had  been  controlled  from  birth  till  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age  by  these  school  methods  would  have  pos- 
sessed merely  a  feebly  receptive  brain  instead  of  a 
definitely  and  creatively  executive  brain.  The  achieving 
and  independently  executive  minds  developed  under  the 
old  training  were  not  developed  in  the  schools,  but  on  the 
playgrounds,  and  in  doing  the  work  of  the  home  and  the 
farm.  Very  few  of  the  American  leaders  of  the  past 
two  centuries  were  leaders  because  of  what  they  learned 
at  school.  Statistics  prove  that  nearly  70  per  cent  of 
the  leading  ministers,  lawyers,  doctors,  bankers,  and 
merchants  in  the  great  cities  of  America  at  the  present 
time  were  brought  up  on  farms,  and  had  to  work  for  a 
living,  so  that  they  were  allowed  to  go  to  school  during 
the  winter  months  only.  It  was  not  what  they  took  in, 
but  what  they  wrought  out,  that  made  them  capable 
of  leadership  in  the  work  of  the  world.  The  schools  of 
a  hundred  years  ago  made  men  receptive  only.  Fifty 
years  ago  teachers  began  to  try  to  make  students  re- 
flective. Now  good  teachers  aim  to  make  their  pupils 
not  only  executive,  but  independently  executive. 

Many  teachers  at  the  present  time  are  satisfied  with 


254  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

activity  on  the  part  of  their  pupils.  They  are  only  half 
awake ;  they  have  only  a  part  of  the  great,  true,  educa- 
tional vision.  Activity,  even  in  response  to  the  teacher's 
suggestion,  is  infinitely  more  developing  to  power,  skill, 
and  character  than  learning  of  any  kind  could  possibly 
be,  because  it  makes  pupils  productive  and  constructive; 
but  self-activity  makes  them  creatively  and  independ- 
ently constructive  and  productive. 

Self-activity  includes  the  motive  and  the  directive 
power  of  the  child  himself.  There  is  no  other  test  of  the 
teacher's  work  either  in  the  learning  or  the  productive 
activity  of  a  child  that  is  so  comprehensively  revealing 
of  the  real  progress  made,  as  the  self-activity  of  the 
child.  Teachers  usually  do  too  much  themselves  in  the 
work  of  the  school.  The  greatest  teachers  are  those  who 
learn  to  kindle  each  child  at  the  center  of  his  power,  and 
who  guide  him  in  the  proper  use  of  his  powers  in  study 
and  activity  in  productive  achievement. 

The  greatest  aim  of  a  teacher  in  securing  her  own 
improvement  should  be  to  discover  new  plans  by  which 
she  may  provide  more  fully  for  the  independent  self- 
activity  of  her  pupils  in  learning  and  in  achieving. 

The  great  purpose  of  education  has  been  memory- 
storing  with  facts  either  told  by  the  teacher  or  studied 
in  books.  Facts  in  themselves  are  of  little  culture 
value,  and  of  less  practical  value  as  long  as  they  are 
merely  learned.  Even  principles  do  not  transform 
character,  if  they  are  merely  committed  to  memory. 
Principles    become    dominant    elements    in    character, 


BASIC   PRINCIPLES  255 

when  they  become  the  basis  of  habits;  and  habits  are 
formed  by  what  we  have  wrought  out  by  Hfe  processes, 
and  not  by  what  we  have  learned  or  simply  thought  out. 
To  commit  the  most  comprehensive  catechism  to  memory 
may  not  even  define  clearly  in  the  mind  the  moral 
principles  it  is  intended  to  expound ;  and  even  when  moral 
principles  are  clearly  defined  in  the  mind,  they  do  not 
become  dominant  elements  in  character  by  remaining 
in  the  mind.  They  must  be  wrought  into  life  by  self- 
activity,  not  merely  imitative  activity,  before  they 
become  conscious  parts  of  moral  character. 

The  new  education  will  not  be  a  mere  book  education. 
Books  will  always  be  an  important  part  of  education, 
but  the  effort  will  be  made  more  and  more  to  train  pupils 
to  love  books  and  to  study  them,  instead  of  making  the 
books  the  basis  of  success  in  gaining  marks  at  examina- 
tions. The  old  education  classified  pupils  into  the  clever 
and  the  dull.  The  clever  pupils  were  those  who  easily 
understood  book  learning,  and  rapidly  committed  it  to 
memory,  and  remembered  it  long  enough  to  repeat  it  at 
examination.  The  dull  were  those  who  were  not  inter- 
ested in  book  learning,  and  who  were  not  successful  at 
examinations  based  solely  on  books.  We  are  learning 
rapidly  now  that  most  of  the  brightest  pupils  were  not  in- 
tended to  find  their  deepest  interest  in  books.  Teachers 
wondered  for  generations  why  so  many  of  the  so-called 
dull  pupils  became  the  most  successful  men  and  women, 
and  why  so  many  of  those  who  stood  highest  in  class 
and  at  examinations  became  mediocre  men  and  women 


256  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

when  tested  by  life.  We  are  learning  now  that  pro- 
ductivity is  more  important  than  receptivity.  We  are 
finding,  too,  a  broader  test  for  an  educational  system 
than  examinations,  and  a  truer  basis  for  school  work  than 
books  alone. 

Knowledge  is  not  power.  The  power  lies  in  the  child. 
Knowledge  becomes  power  when  it  is  wrought  into  the 
achieving  power  of  the  child,  and  used  as  an  element  in  the 
child's  reason,  not  merely  to  train  him  to  think,  but  to 
guide  him  in  action.  Knowledge  becomes  power  only 
when  used  by  the  selfhood  of  the  child;  and  knowledge 
increases  in  power  as  the  achieving  power  of  the  child 
increases. 

The  primary  aim  of  the  school  should  be  power  develop- 
ment, the  secondary  aim,  knowledge.  In  most  schools 
as  yet,  the  chief  aim  is  knowledge,  and  the  methods  of 
communicating  it  have  aimed  at  the  growth  of  one  power 
—  memory.  Recently  a  few  schools  have  tried  to  re- 
member a  little  in  the  teaching  of  a  few  subjects  that 
children  should  be  trained  to  think.  It  is  not  enough, 
however,  to  train  a  man  to  acquire  knowledge  and  retain  it, 
and  to  think  accurately  in  regard  to  it.  Efficient  service 
for  humanity,  for  the  community  in  which  he  lives,  de- 
mands the  development  of  achie\dng  power.  This  is  the 
only  power  that  gives  real  value  to  the  abiUty  to  acquire 
knowledge  and  to  think  clearly.  There  are  thousands 
of  inefficient  men  and  women  in  every  community,  who 
have  power  to  get  knowledge  from  books,  and  from  men, 
and  who  have  their  reasoning  powers  fairly  developed. 


BASIC  PRINCIPLES  257 

They  are  ineflScient  because  they  were  stored  instead  of 
developed  in  school. 

To  develop  the  achieving  and  transforming  powers 
of  children  will  not  necessarily  take  time  away  from 
the  important  studies  on  the  school  curriculum.  If 
children  had  proper  facilities  for  developing  their  con- 
structive powers,  their  intellectual  powers  would  im- 
prove much  more  rapidly  than  they  can  possibly  im- 
prove by  study.  The  child's  brain  is  developed  and 
coordinated  more  rapidly  and  more  comprehensively 
when  it  is  used  to  plan  and  to  guide  in  the  execution 
of  its  plans,  than  when  it  is  merely  required  to  acquire 
knowledge,  to  understand,  and  to  remember  facts  or 
principles.  The  common  processes  of  learning  develop 
only  certain  limited  areas  of  brain  power,  the  least 
important  elements  of  brain  power  in  the  making  of 
efficient  citizens. 

One  of  the  real  tests  of  the  value  of  school  education  is 
its  influence  on  the  alertness  of  mind  that  is  necessary  to 
see  the  various  factors  that  make  up  new  conditions ;  on 
the  power  of  recognition  of  the  relationship  of  the  ele- 
ments of  the  new  conditions  to  each  other,  and  to  the 
f amiHar  conditions  of  past  experience ;  and  on  the  quick- 
ness of  decision  and  of  execution  necessary  to  make  the 
best  of  the  new  conditions.  The  man  who  most  quickly 
and  most  completely  sees  the  relationship  of  new  condi- 
tions, and  the  way  in  which  they  may  best  be  improved, 
becomes  most  surely  the  leader  of  his  fellow-men,  and  a 
most  efficient  member  of  his  community.     Formerly  the 


258  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

development  of  quickness  of  mental  vision,  promptness 
in  decision,  and  immediate  achievement  were  not  even 
considered  as  a  part  of  school  work.  Such  elements  of 
power  and  character,  supremely  important  though  they 
be,  are  still  left  to  be  developed  mainly  on  the  playground 
or  in  other  incidental  or  accidental  ways  outside  of  the 
school. 

The  schools  will  some  day  provide  means  for  develop- 
ing the  child's  natural  powers.  Each  child  should  pass 
through  such  conditions  in  school  as  will  enable  him  to 
gradually  become  conscious  of  his  highest  power,  and 
reveal  it  to  his  parents  and  teachers.  His  special  in- 
terests may  change,  should  change,  in  most  cases,  from 
year  to  year  during  his  early  years,  but  all  the  essential 
elements  of  his  achieving  power  should  continue  to 
develop  throughout  his  whole  school  course.  The 
revelation  of  his  especial  power  can  be  made  only  by 
operative  processes.  When  it  has  been  revealed,  it  is 
the  most  vital  element  to  aid  him  in  deciding  what  his  life 
work  should  be,  and  to  qualify  his  parents  and  teachers 
for  giving  him  reasonable  advice  in  regard  to  this  most 
important  subject. 

Some  day  the  national  schools,  cooperating  with 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tions, and  committees  appointed  by  commercial  organiza- 
tions, will  establish  offices  to  aid  in  finding  suitable  posi- 
tions for  the  young  people  who  graduate  from  the  school 
to  the  productive  departments  of  the  world's  work.  Some 
day  the  various  institutions  that  should  be  effective  in 


BASIC  PRINCIPLES  259 

deciding  the  destinies  of  children,  and  in  quahfying 
them  for  the  greatest  success,  will  be  coordinated,  and 
then  development  and  destiny  will  not  be  so  indefinitely 
related  as  they  are  at  present. 

One  of  the  most  manifest  of  the  weaknesses  of  the 
educational  systems  is  that  they  are  planned  and  con- 
ducted in  the  interest  of  the  comparatively  few  who  have 
money  and  brain  quahty  to  enable  them  to  proceed  to  take 
the  full  culture  courses  provided.  Educators  have  pro- 
ceeded on  the  theory  that  the  elementary  schools  should 
provide  exactly  the  same  courses  of  study  for  all  types 
of  children.  They  must  learn  that  the  great  masses  who 
are  to  fill  places  in  the  industrial  and  commercial  world, 
especially  in  the  industrial  world,  should  be  trained  in 
the  elemental  principles  of  their  life  work  early.  Indeed, 
it  would  be  much  wiser  to  provide,  for  all  children  in  the 
elementary  schools,  a  system  calculated  to  develop  the 
masses  of  the  children  in  the  processes  best  calculated 
to  prepare  them  truly  for  their  Hfe  work,  than  to  give  all 
children  the  training  assumed  to  be  best  for  the  few 
who  are  likely  to  take  the  higher  culture  courses  in 
high  schools  and  universities.  Educators  are  now 
beginning  to  recognize  the  fact  that  many  pupils  who 
enter  high  schools  are  really  weakened  instead  of 
strengthened  by  their  high  school  courses.  This  has  led 
to  the  establishment  of  special  kinds  of  high  schools,  and 
of  vocational  schools.  It  cannot  be  long  before  there  will 
be  as  complete  and  as  well-organized  a  course  from  the 
kindergarten   to   the  university  in  practical  education 


26o  BETTER   SCHOOLS 

as  now  exists  for  culture  and  preparation  for  professional 
life.  All  who  are  to  enter  practical  departments  of  life 
will  not  proceed  to  the  technical  work  of  the  universi- 
ties. Those  who  should  be  the  leaders  in  the  industrial 
and  technical  world  should  proceed  through  the  univer- 
sities so  that  they  may  understand  the  scientific  basis  of 
the  work  they  expect  to  supervise,  and  may  receive  at 
the  same  time  a  practical  training  in  the  most  modern 
processes  of  accomplishing  the  best  results  in  their  chosen 
vocations. 

No  child  is  truly  educated  unless  he  has  been  trained 
to  produce  and  achieve,  and  has  the  tendency  to  pro- 
duce and  achieve  well  developed  as  the  true  basis  of  his 
happiness  and  of  his  moral  evolution  as  a  member  of 
society. 


APPENDIX 

ANALYSIS  OF  FROEBEL'S   EDUCATIONAL 
PRINCIPLES 

THREE  PRINCIPLES 

1.  The  Divine  Essence  (possibility).     Individuality. 

2.  Self-Revelation  (consciousness  of  possibility). 

3.  Self-Activity  (freedom  to  develop  possibility). 

Note.  —  The  real  child  (essence)  is  the  divine  part.  To  speak  of  a 
child  as  essentially  bad  is,  from  Froebel's  point  of  view,  a  contradiction 
of  terras. 

Education  is  the  evolution  of  the  divine  essence  (possibility)  by  making 
a  child  conscious  of  possibility  and  leaving  him  free  to  develop  it. 

SELF-REVELATION,  THE  ADJECTIVE  "CONSCIOUS" 

A.  Subjective  View.  —  a.  Consciousness  of  power  necessary 
to  the  development  of  possibility  (divine  essence),  therefore 
necessary  to  adequate  education. 

b.  Consciousness  of  failure,  a  hindrance  in  education. 
The  teacher  usually  develops  consciousness  of  failure. 

B.  Objective  View. — The  child  must  not  only  know  his 
power,  but  must  know  that  the  teacher  knows  it. 

Note.  —  The  same  principles  are  applicable  to  the  teacher.  She 
must  know  her  power,  and  for  her  highest  success  must  know  that  it  is 
recognized. 

c.  Supplementary  considerations  illustrative  of  the  general 
necessity,  viz.:  that  the  child  must  be  made  conscious  of 
power,  not  of  failure. 

261 


262  APPENDIX 

I.  Rewards  of  merit  should  be  given  on  basis  of  efforts,  not 
of  attainment.    Otherwise  consciousness  of  defeat  evolved. 

Recognition  of  effort  results  in  highest  possible  attainment. 

Note.  —  Principle  of  Ratio,  i.e.  Attainment,  is  to  be  considered  in 
view  of  the  possibility. 

II.  Promotions. 

Usual  rigid  plan  ignores  the  child's  possibility  in  a  given 
subject.  The  standard  in  each  child's  subject  is  the  child's 
norm.     This  cannot  be  represented  in  figures. 

Propositions.  — I.  No  given  proficiency  in  Latin,  Algebra, 
etc.,  necessary  for  life. 

II.  School  must  prepare  for  life.  Therefore  the  conscious- 
ness of  power  should  be  the  outcome.  Ignoring  the  principle 
of  ratio  evolves  consciousness  of  defeat. 

III.  Marking  System. 

a.  The  mark  (necessarily  based  on  attainment)  supplies 
a  false  standard  for  self -estimate. 

Note.  —  Only  standard  of  comparison  for  a  pupil  is  with  himself, 
otherwise  consciousness  of  possibility  is  imperfectly  evoked. 

h.  Averaging  places  emphasis  at  wrong  place,  viz.  on  an 
average  rather  than  on  the  individual  study.  This  dulls 
consciousness  of  power.  Marks  are  valuable  to  teacher  as  a 
matter  of  record  and  to  supply  data  for  her  work.  They  are 
not  to  be  given  to  pupils. 

SELF-ACTIVITY,  THE  ADJECTIVE   "FREE" 

The  Ideal. — Action  to  arise  from  inner  impulse,  not  from 

external  control. 

Note.  —  Self- Activity  the  complement  to  Self-Revelation.  Why  make 
the  child  conscious  of  power  if  the  power  is  not  to  be  exercised  ? 


APPENDIX  263 

Proposition.  —  Froebel  protests  against  interference  with 
the  development  of  the  child's  possibilities. 

Outcome  of  education  to  be  reliance  on  self. 

The  child  has  two  natures  (a)  the  Divine  Essence,  (b)  the 
Intrusion. 

The  Essence  must  be  free.  The  Intrusion  demands  manda- 
tory treatment,  but  under  conditions  as  below. 

Freedom  to  be  considered  from  two  standpoints  (a)  Moral 
Training,  (b)  Intellectual  Training. 

Moral  Training 

Basal  Proposition.  —  For  Moral  Development,  man  must  be 
free  to  do  wrong. 

Statement  of  Argument.  —  The  faculties  grow  by  exercise. 
I.   Exercise  implies  resistance. 

Note.  —  To  the  extent  that  Discipline  interferes  with  choice,  it 
defeats  Moral  Development. 

Law.  —  No  command  binding  that  cannot  be  accepted 
intelligently. 

This  is  the  ideal  as  regards  education,  not  as  regards  control. 

The  opposite  view  may  control.  It  cannot  train.  Ques- 
tion as  to  outcome,  Self-control  or  External  control  ? 

Self-control  implies  cooperation.  The  antithesis  of  co- 
operation is  despotism.  But  the  boy  is  to  live  in  a  com- 
munity, not  in  a  despotism.  The  rebound  from  despotism 
is  anarchy. 

Sociological  Inquiry  to  determine  present  outcome  as 
respects  Moral  Training.  That  outcome  is  that  the  individ- 
ual does  right  only  when  there  is  external  control. 

Specific  Considerations.  —  Petty  dishonesties.  Party 
control.     Millinery    crusade.     Cruelty    in    preparing    food. 


264  APPENDIX 

Immorality  on  the  stage.  Slowness  of  reforms.  Sordid 
reasons  for  religion. 

All  the  above  is  the  legitimate  outcome  of  a  school  training 
that  looks  to  external  control  as  the  outcome. 

Statement. — Purpose  of  Education.  A  Faithful  Life. 
Faithful  to  Divine  Possibility. 

Note.  —  Possibility  implies  variety  of  attainment.  Moral  Possibility 
varies  as  much  as  possibility  in  arithmetic. 

Practical  considerations  bearing  on  classroom. 

I.  To  exert  power,  child  must  be  conscious  of  power. 
Therefore  there  must  be  opportunity  to  reveal  self. 

Two  forms  of  command. 
a.   Do  this,  regardless  of  your  views. 
h.  Do  this,  and  observe  to  what  knowledge  it  leads  you. 
Command  must  evoke  internal  compUance. 
Objection.  —  Child  not  to  act  unless  he  approves? 
Answer. — Actually    and    at   present,    no.     Ideally    and 
ultimately,  yes. 

a.  Command  must  be  such  as  could  be  justified  could  the 
child  comprehend. 

b.  If  all  commands  are  of  this  character,  pupil  will  come  to 
trust  when  he  cannot  understand. 

Question  as  to  outcome,  allegiance  or  discipline? 
Question  as  to  state  of  pupils,  disciple  or  slave  ? 

II.  Repression  of  child  obscures  motive. 

Teacher  must  know  motive  to  train  moral  actix-ity.  Hin- 
dered activity  or  forced  activity  makes  this  impossible. 

Teacher  often  removes  symptom,  but  not  disease. 

The  other  side  of  the  child,  the  instruction  or  training. 

This  requires  mandatory  repressiv'e  treatment.  But  the 
source  of  the  training  must  be  known.  This  cannot  be 
unless  the  child  be  free  to  reveal  it.    Apparent  paradox. 


APPENDIX  265 

III.  We  occasion  crime  by  restriction. 

Law  may  develop  self-determination  or  crime. 

Illustrations.  Murders  in  France.  Capital  punishment  in 
England.     Yard  disorder,  black  list,  public  apology. 

Teacher  seeks  immediate  results  at  expense  of  ultimate 
results. 

Necessity  calls  forth  freedom  or  slavery.     (Same  idea.) 

Recalls  the  two  kinds  of  commands. 

IV.  Three  Considerations.    Precept,  Example,  Habit. 
They  are  necessary,  but  not  final. 

A.  Precept.  Fiat  does  not  cause  things  to  be  in  the  child's 
mind  except  in  the  early  development  of  the  Moral  Senti- 
ment. Later  development  involves  volition.  Individual 
must  recognize  the  binding  force  of  precept  before  it  becomes 
mandatory.     Then  it  is  only  mandatory  on  the  spirit. 

Teacher  mistakes  her  own  accepted  beliefs  for  axioms.  A 
self-evident  truth  does  not  need  to  be  taught  prescriptively. 

B.  Example.  —  Imitation  of  a  model  life  is  dead.  We 
must  know  its  motives.  We  can  prescribe  an  outward  form, 
but  not  a  motive.  An  ideal  cannot  be  imposed  on  the  spirit. 
The  self-active  spirit  must  recognize  the  principle  that  un- 
derlies the  model. 

In  school  the  pupil  must  see  that  the  teacher  is  herself 
subject  to  the  laws  she  imposes.  This  is  the  source  of 
personal  influence. 

Example  is  efficient  so  far  as  pupil's  spiritual  idea  corre- 
sponds to  teacher's. 

C.  Habit.  — Valuable,  but  not  highest  conception. 
Animal  a  bundle  of  habits.     Man  adds  volition. 

The  origin  of  the  habit  (the  way  it  came  to  be)  is  im- 
portant. 


266  APPENDIX 

Habit  is  reflex.     Action  must  be  volitional  before  it  is 
reflex. 

Conclusion. — The  Divine  Essence  to  be  nursed. 


FROEBEL  IN  THE  UPPER  GRADES 
INTELLECTUAL  TRAINING 

Outcome  and  method  same  as  in  moral  training,  viz. 
Self-acti\dty  as  opposed  to  enforced  activity. 

Compulsion  works  same  malign  results  in  both  spheres  of 
Education. 

Postulates.  —  Non-interference.  Opportunity  for  resist- 
ance. 

Basal  Proposition. — Boy  to  find  his  place  in  life.  If  he 
never  finds  it  in  school,  he  will  not  find  it  in  life.  Such  educa- 
tion is  failure. 

Hence  arises  the  idea  of  Individuality. 

Individuality  fundamental  in  a  Froebelian  \'iew  of  educa- 
tion.    Disregard  of  this  principle  fills  the  world  with  misfits. 

Application  to  School  Organization 

The  Graded  System  and  Uniform  Course  of  Study  may  be 
hindrances  to  self-activity.  When  this  is  the  case,  they  are 
to  that  extent  malign.  They  must  be  subordinate  to  the 
central  idea  of  individuality  in  teaching. 

Uniformity  not  a  regnant  idea  in  moral  reforms,  in  hospi- 
tals, in  training  of  animals:  indeed,  nowhere  but  in  school. 

School  training  must  look  to  individuality,  {a)  in  teacher, 
{h)  in  pupil. 


APPENDIX  267 

a.  Teacher.  —  Superintendent  must  learn  that  the  Froebel- 
ian  principle  of  Freedom  as  applied  to  teacher  and  pupil 
is  identical.  Same  malign  results  follow  ignoring  it  in  both 
cases. 

b.  Pupil.  —  I.  Work  of  school  must  be  adjusted  to  child's 
possibility.     Grade  is  secondary. 

2.  Promotions  are  to  be  made  on  the  same  basis.  The 
child's  individual  norm  in  a  given  subject  is  the  standard. 

Note.  —  Observance  of  this  principle  reduces  the  teacher's  burden 
because  she  demands  of  the  child,  and  therefore  of  herself,  possibilities. 
Note.  —  Graded  system  thereby  not  destroyed,  but  vivified. 

Proposition.  —  Each  child  is  the  incarnation  of  a  divine 
purpose  which  the  school  must  actualize. 

Four  sample  considerations  that  may  hinder  self -activity. 

I.  Uniform  examination. 

Note.  —  Examination  legitimate  and  necessary  to  inform  teacher  and 
pupil.  As  a  basis  of  rating  or  promotion  it  extinguishes  individuality, 
self-activity,  consciousness  of  power. 

II.  Marking  System. 

The  comparison  of  pupils  implied  depresses  those  who  are 
marked  down,  dulls  consciousness  of  power,  and  therefore 
discourages  self-activity. 

Note.  —  Teacher  can  make  pupil  want  to  do  what  she  wishes  him  to 
do,  only  through  self-activity. 

Note.  —  Purpose  of  marks  not  to  promote,  or  inform  teacher  or 
pupil,  but  merely  to  record  for  teacher's  benefit  alone. 

Proposition.  —  We  do  not  desire  to  do  what  we  feel  we  can- 
not do  well. 

III.  Rewards  of  Merit. 

To  be  given  for  effort.  If  given  for  attainment,  they  dis- 
courage self-activity  by  diminishing  consciousness  of  power. 

IV.  Prizes.  —  Depress  most  pupils. 


268  APPENDIX 

Self- ACTIVITY  considered  from  Teacher's  Side 

If  a  child  is  not  free,  teacher  does  not  know  him.  Therefore 
she  cannot  reach  the  sources  of  self -activity. 

Conclusion.  —  Education  resides  in  what  we  bring  about  by 
self -activity  of  pupil,  not  in  what  we  communicate  or  compel. 

Special  Application.     Independent  Action 

We  do  too  much  for  our  pupils.  Result:  Lack  of  power 
of  independent  action. 

Arithmetic  as  an  illustration.    Two  weaknesses. 

1.  Pupils  unwilling  to  try  long  and  patiently. 

2.  Unwilling  or  unable  to  verify  results. 

This  is  no  preparation  for  work  of  life.  Such  training 
develops  incapacity.  Pupil  is  enfeebled  when  we  do  for 
him  what  he  can  do  for  himself. 

Special  method.  —  Pupil  to  repeat  his  work  until  it  is  correct. 
Objection.  —  This  takes  time. 

Answer.  —  a.  Time  wasted  in  unnecessary  explanation  is 
saved. 

b.  A  smaller  number  of  examples  aflford  a  better  practice. 

c.  Important  consideration  is  the  outcome,  viz.  habits  of 
accuracy,  persistence,  and  concentration.  Slatternly  habits 
of  mind  the  outcome  of  present  methods. 

Spelling.  Special  method.  —  Pupil  to  correct  his  own  work 
before  and  after  handing  it  in.  The  ultimate  outcome  to  be 
absolute  accuracy  before  handing  it  in. 

Language.  Special  method.  —  Same  as  in  spelling  except 
that  regard  is  here  paid  to  the  advancement  of  child,  on  the 
principle  that  each  successive  acquisition  in  Language  and 
Grammar  is  to  be  made  automatic. 


appendix  269 

path  of  least  resistance 

Following  vs.  Prescription 

Data  to  be  drawn  from  phenomena  as  exhibited  by  large 
numbers  of  children.  This  is  the  scientific  method.  The 
opposite  method  is  a  compound  of  empiricism  and  egotism. 

Proposition. — When  classes  generally  and  under  various 
teachers  resist  the  teaching  of  a  subject  {i.e.  learn  with 
difficulty)  the  inference  is  that  the  subject  or  method  is 
inappropriate  to  the  child  at  the  age. 

Illustration  i.    Number  in  ist  and  2d  grades. 

a.  Taught  with  difficulty  in  such  grades. 

h.  Taught  with  ease  in  3d  grade. 

c.  If  beginning  is  postponed  to  third  grade,  results  better 
in  4th  grade  than  when  subject  was  begun  in  ist  grade. 

(a)  Because  subjects  taught  are  along  lines  of  congeniality, 
favoring  mental  (self)  activity. 

{h)  Because  the  outcome  is  a  habit  of  mental  activity 
which  favors  self -activity  when  the  time  for  teaching  number 
arrives. 

Illustration  2.  Language. — Little  children  learn  language 
easily.     Facility  diminishes  with  age. 

Note.  —  Activity  of  children  not  volitional.  They  absorb  rather 
than  learn. 

Corollary.  —  By  the  opposite  course  not  only  is  a  habit  of 
mental  activity  not  acquired,  but  a  habit  of  mental  apathy  is 
acquired. 

Illustration  3.  Music.  —  Children  will  sing  and  draw. 
Path  of  least  resistance  indicated.  Therefore  a  habit  of 
mental  activity  is  the  outcome. 

Note.  —  Music  is  robbed  of  its  virtue  if  singing  becomes  perfunctory. 


270  APPENDIX 

Illustration  4.  Vertical  writing.  — Resistance  to  Spencerian 
angle  long  indicated  its  incorrectness. 

Corollary.  —  Teacher's  hand  to  be  on  the  pulse  of  the 
class. 

Intensive  Illustrations 

A.  Story  telling.  —  If  the  stock  of  ideas  is  ample,  ex- 
pression in  language  will  be  ready.  Path  of  least  resist- 
ance indicates  the  stimulation  of  mind  to  enlargement  of 
stock  of  ideas.     One  important  method  is  story  telling. 

Note. — The  child  naturally  "  gathers  material.  " 

Basal  proposition.  —  Story  telling  founded  on  the  child's 
longing  for  the  interpretation  of  his  ideas  and  fancies. 

Note.  —  Success  in  story  telling  as  an  art  is  a  matter  of  interpretation. 
The  child  invests  speechless  things  with  life.  Later  he  will  demand  to 
understand  the  past.  Places  have  their  meaning.  The  story  teller 
must  recognize  the  inner  meaning  of  things,  must  be  an  interpreter,  or  he 
is  dead  to  the  child. 

Here  is  a  universal  and  therefore  healthy  demand.  It 
points  to  an  outcome  of  mental  activity. 

Stories  should  not  generally  be  for  purposes  of  written 
reproduction.     Morals  to  stories  are  impertinent. 

Corollary.  —  Story  telling  brings  about  most  intimate 
relation  of  teacher  and  child.     "  Mind  breathes  mind." 

Proposition.  —  Reading  stories  in  later  child  life  adds  the 
conception  of  the  book  as  a  book. 

Proposition.  —  An  important  outcome  of  story  telling  is. 
the  stimulation  of  the  child  to  read.  To  bring  this  about 
the  teacher  must  provide  much  material  for  silent  reading,  and 
also  provide  the  opportunity  to  use  it. 

B.  Beauty. — Love   of   the  beautiful  an  evident  fact  of 


APPENDIX  271 

childhood.  To  gratify  it  is  not  conceding  a  luxury,  therefore 
is  not  optional. 

FroebeVs  claim.  —  A  work  of  art  reveals  the  soul  of  the 
artist :  therefore  the  beauty  of  nature  reveals  God.  Beauty 
leads  to  the  Deity,  therefore  to  the  highest  truth. 

Proposition.  —  The  path  of  least  resistance  along  the  lines 
of  duty  is  along  the  lines  of  beauty. 

Note.  —  Decoration  of  a  schoolroom  is  a  necessity  as  an  important 
means  of  moral  training.     Much  use  of  color  in  regular  work  is  desirable. 

C.  Nature  study.  —  Nature  study  a  long  time  coming. 
Yet  its  necessity  was  indicated  long  ago  by  the  nature  of  the 
child. 

Practice  has  not  lined  up  with  child  nature.  This  study 
is  the  field  for  appalling  violations  of  the  law  of  least  resist- 
ance. We  have  poured  in  facts.  This  is  not  the  way  a 
child  comes  to  the  knowledge  of  nature.  The  child  is  a  ram- 
bler, a  discoverer.  He  belongs  to  the  first  period  of  scientific 
research,  that  of  gathering  of  data. 

Errors  in  conducting  nature  study  relate  to  the  kind, 
amount,  and  order  of  presentation  of  facts. 

Note.  —  School  cannot  in  any  subject  teach  the  child  all  that  he  is 
going  to  know. 

Purposes  of  nature  study. 

a.  To  train  perception  and  comparison,  b.  To  interest  child 
in  world  around  him.    c.  To  widen  his  knowledge  of  facts. 

Note.  —  These  purposes  do  not  sustain  uniform  relations  as  regards 
importance  in  the  various  grades. 

Three  indications  (not  exclusive)  as  to  the  course  of  Nature 
Study: 

a.  Children  love  life. 

b.  Children  love  beauty. 


272  APPENDIX 

c.   Children  observe  in  a  surface  way. 
a.   Life.     Order  indicated:  i.  Animals.    2.  Plants.   3.  In- 
organic substances. 

Note.  —  Recall  fact  that  children  invest  lifeless  things  with  life. 

h.   Beauty. — Already  considered. 

c.  Surjace  observations.  —  Children  see  details  but  not  in  an 
orderly  way.  A  certain  amount  of  order  will  be  tolerated 
by  the  child.  The  time  to  stop  is  when  serious  resistance  is 
encountered.     This  is  not  the  period  for  intensive  teaching. 

Indications  as  to  choice  oj  objects. 

a.  Law  oj  apperception. — This  is  evidently  regnant  in  child 
life.  Object  must  not  imply  too  much  of  the  unknown. 
Familiar  animals  as  a  rule  better  than  unfamiliar. 

h.  Season.  —  Changes  in  nature  associated  with  child's 
deepest  joys. 

c.  Scheme  oj  objects  to  have  coherence.  —  Study  not  intensive 
but  also  not  haphazard.  The  butterfly  style  of  teaching  is 
not  the  model. 

Processes. 

a.  Observation.  —  i.  All  senses  to  be  involved.  2.  Ob- 
servation to  be  not  on  insignificant  facts.  3.  Observation 
not  to  go  too  much  into  detail.  4.  Order  of  observation  to 
be  guided  by  law  of  apperception.  5.  Observation  should  be 
guided  by  a  definite  aim. 

b.  Description.  —  Language  and  drawing.  Language  must, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  be  largely  oral.  Drawing  to  be  from 
the  object. 

Correlated  helps. 

Literature  (juvenile),  songs,  reading  to  pupils,  story  telling. 

Note.  —  So-called  nature  readers  for  young  children  are  often  in 
violation  of  foregoing  principles. 


APPENDIX  273 

Moral  outcome. 

a.  Sympathy,  b.  Reverence  for  life.  c.  A  tendency  to 
recognize  the  Deity  in  nature. 

D.  Spelling.  —  i.  Criticism  of  spelling  should  be  analytical. 
Investigation  indicates  that  there  are  many  causes  of  bad 
spelling,  each  of  which  calls  for  specific  treatment.  This 
means  fewer  exercises. 

2.  As  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  false  percepts  are 
derived  through  sound,  the  importance  of  a  large  amount  of 
oral  work  is  indicated.  The  relation  between  a  false  per- 
cept and  a  sound  is  probably  individual  and  intimate. 

3.  The  ultimate  purpose  of  spelling  is  to  write  in  a  para- 
graph. Oral  drill  and  column  work  are  means  only  to  that 
end. 

4.  The  great  preponderance  of  sound  errors  and  the  fact 
that  these  relate  to  the  child's  own  vocabulary  indicate  the 
error  of  concentrating  on  unfamiliar  words. 

5.  The  introduction  of  new  words  is  not  for  purpose  of 
teaching  spelling  but  to  increase  vocabulary.  Such  increase 
must  be  very  slow. 

6.  Children  should  correct  most  of  their  own  errors. 

7.  The  moral  phase  is  important.  If  the  teacher  considers 
as  errors  those  mis-spellings  which  do  not  indicate  lack  of 
knowledge,  as  shown  by  his  own  power  of  self-correction,  he  is 
unjust. 

E.  Language. — Most  difificult  subject  of  the  course  be- 
cause the  child's  environment  outside  the  school  neutralizes 
instruction  given  in  school. 

a.  Proposed  results  of  language  study:  i.  To  teach 
to  speak  and  write  English.  2.  To  teach  grammar.  The 
latter   except  in  a  limited   sense  is  not  a  means   to   the 


274  APPENDIX 

former  but  an  end  in  itself  and  a  means  to  analytical  study 
of  language. 

h.  Actual  results,  i.  Oral.  Pupils  cannot  form  an 
English  sentence.  Accuracy  and  fluency  both  wanting. 
Answers  of  children  in  ordinary  work,  fragmentary,  obscure, 
badly  constructed.  2.  Written.  Work  lacks  freedom,  ac- 
curacy in  expression,  and  fertility  of  thought. 

c.  Reasons,  i.  No  clear  purpose  in  teaching.  2.  No 
rational  adjustment  of  means  to  end.  3.  No  concentration 
on  difi&culties.     4.   Excessive  help. 

d.  Remedy.  Study  and  be  governed  by  conditions.  Ob- 
serve law  of  least  resistance.  Follow  suggestions  of  c.  In 
particular  apply  only  so  much  of  grammar  to  language  as 
indicated  by  results  of  investigation,  as  follows: 

Investigation  shows  that  the  errors  in  grammar  are  few, 
permitting  concentration ;  that  the  order  of  treatment  is  ascer- 
tainable, and  that  the  intensive  study  of  grammar  belongs  to 
the  eighth  grade. 

Errors  indicated  by  the  investigation  as  popular:  i.  Ex- 
cessive use  of  connectives.  2.  Use  of  superfluous  words.  3. 
Relation  of  subject  and  predicate.  4.  Errors  in  imperfect  tense 
and  perfect  participle.  5.  Considerations  relating  to  antece- 
dent of  pronoun.  6.  Use  of  possessive  nouns.  7.  Misuse  of 
prepositions. 

F.  Reading.  Concentration  on  mechanical  act  of  read- 
ing to  the  practical  exclusion  of  interest  in  the  story  brings 
about  mental  apathy. 

Mechanical  methods,  which  bring  about  more  or  less  apathy, 
demonstrate  their  own  futility,  for  apathy  is  an  important  in- 
dication of  resistance. 

Silent  reading  in  large  quantities  is  indicated  by  the  child's 


APPENDIX  275 

avidity  for  it  and  the  progress  he  makes  if  the  educational 
scheme  encourages  it.  We  hinder  the  child's  growth  by 
insisting  that  the  reading  should  be  largely  oral. 

G.  Arithmetic.  —  In  addition  to  considerations  in  general, 
discussion  of  the  law  of  least  resistance. 

a.  Training  to  automatic  accuracy  indicated  in  earlier 
years.  Harder  to  attain  after  5th  year.  Failure  to  obey  the 
indication  leads  to  feebleness  both  in  reasoning  and  manipu- 
lation of  numbers  in  later  years. 

b.  Oral    work    indicated    by    observation  of  conditions. 
Pencil  used  too  soon  and  too  much.  Vast  amount  of  practice 

necessary  to  secure  coinmand  of  arithmetical  processes 
cannot  be  obtained  through  written  work  alone. 

c.  On  the  other  hand,  what  is  called  mental  work  (demand- 
ing reasoning)  is  introduced  in  advance  of  child's  capacity. 

d.  Crowding  the  child  a  violation  of  the  law.  A  vast 
amount  of  easy  work  needed,  e.g.  in  division  of  decimals. 
Be  governed  by  the  resistance  offered  by  the  class. 

e.  Subjects  taken  in  advance  of  child's  capacity.  A 
kindred  violation,  e.g.  long  division  in  3d  year. 

/.  Premature  development  of  reasoning  power,  e.g.  ex- 
planation of  carrying  in  subtraction.  No  help  to  child 
and  he  resists  it.  Many  things  must  be  done  in  advance 
of  capacity  for  understanding  reasons,  e.g.  learning  to  walk. 

g.  Grube  heresy.  The  fundamental  processes  may  be 
carried  along  simultaneously  but  not  abreast.  After  a 
certain  point  the  child  resists  the  whole  Grube  method. 

h.  Use  of  concrete  after  data  show  it  is  not  needed.  Also 
failure  to  return  to  concrete  when  indications  point  to  such 
return. 

i.   The  spiral  method  indicated.     Any  subject  in  arithmetic 


276  APPENDIX 

is  resisted  after  a  certain  point,  and  further  consideration 
must  be  postponed.  But  all  topics  may  be  taken  in  their 
rudiments  quite  early  without  resistance.  But  this  does  not 
justify  a  dilettante  method  indicated  by  some  arithmetics, 
in  which  there  is  no  law  governing  the  treatment  of  any  given 
topic. 

COMMUNITY 

Cooperation  {Community)  runs  through  kindergarten  sys- 
tem, in  games  and  work. 

Basal  proposition.  —  Brotherhood  in  family  and  school, 
always  associated  with  fatherhood.  The  outcome  should  be 
that  the  one  should  suggest  the  other.  The  conception  of 
brotherhood  leads  to  that  of  fatherhood,  therefore  to  religion. 
Therefore  brotherhood  in  school  life  is  the  condition  favoring 
the  highest  morality. 

Proof  drawn  from  (a)  scriptural  definitions  of  religion,  (b) 
consensus  of  popular  opinion.  Both  make  brotherhood  an 
essential  condition  to  the  conception  of  fatherhood. 

Proposition.  —  Genius  of  the  school  is  generally  not  frater- 
nity but  segregation. 

Illustration.  Schemes  of  administration  based  on  rivalry. 
Rivalry  is  a  counter  principle  to  fraternity. 

Caste  in  school  has  the  same  outcome  as  caste  in  society. 
Caste  and  solidarity  are  opposing  words. 

Proposition.  —  Social  instinct  is  inborn  in  children  but  we 
stifle  it.  Illustrations.  Clumsy  treatment  of  prompting  and 
tattling. 

Objection.  —  We  train  for  practical  life  in  which  the  survival 
of  the  fittest  is  the  controlling  principle. 

Answer. —  (a)  the  present  social  conditions  are  a  true 
reflex  of  this  principle.     But  no  one  thinks  they  are  to  be 


APPENDIX  277 

intensified.  All  social  reforms  tend  to  their  amelioration 
along  lines  of  solidarity. 

(b)  The  child  needs  no  intensification  of  the  egotistic 
passions. 

Proposition. — Responsibility  rests  on  teacher.  If  she 
throws  away  motherhood,  she  throws  away  brotherhood. 

The  commands  of  teacher  must  be  based  on  eternal  neces- 
sity. Then  despotism  is  banished.  Neither  fatherhood  nor 
brotherhood  can  exist  with  despotism.  The  choice  is  between 
allegiance  and  discipline.  The  commands  of  Jesus  are 
based  on  eternal  necessity  and  are  therefore  the  best  illustra- 
tion of  Froebel's  conception  of  reciprocal  obligation  that 
he  calls  "  The  third  something."  First  something  is  the 
child,  second  the  teacher,  third  the  relation  based  on  unavoid- 
able necessity  and  not  on  caprice. 

Postulate.  - —  Morality  is  social. 

Some  specific  illustrations  of  community. 

a.  Chorus  singing,  especially  part  singing,  trains  for 
community  in  the  future  as  well  as  the  present,  because  music 
is  a  bond  among  adults.  It  has  a  moral  tendency  also,  in 
that  it  trains  for  hours  of  leisure,  which  are  the  hours  of 
temptation.  It  should  be  used  as  a  serious  exercise  and  not 
as  a  means  of  killing  time. 

b.  Reading  aloud. 

c.  Games,  matches,  history  garues,  etc. 

d.  Debates  may  in  a  simple  way  be  introduced  very 
early. 

e.  Parliamentary  practice. 

/.   Democratic  organization  of  school. 
aa.   Class   divided   into   two   clubs   for   match  purposes. 
(Emulation  is  distinct  from  rivalry.) 


278  APPENDIX 

bb.  The  privilege  of  electing  by  class  in  place  of  appoint- 
ment wherever  this  can  be  done. 

cc.  An  organization  or  lodge  within  the  school  to  educate 
the  sense  of  honor.  Such  an  organization  should  discipline 
its  own  members.  It  should  have  its  badges  and  other 
insignia.  It  will  attract  to  itself  many  otherwise  hard  to 
reach.     (History  of  Order  of  the  White  Ribbon.) 

g.  Class  tone,  an  antidote  to  dangers  from  impurity  of 
thought. 

.  h.   Solidarity.    Thanksgiving  gifts  to  the  poor.    Altruism 
essential  to  brotherhood. 

i.   Patriotism. 

EPOCHS 

General  Statement,  a.  Child  at  different  stages  of  growth 
a  different  being,  b.  All  the  later  epochs  are  potentially 
present  in  the  earlier,  c.  All  the  earlier  epochs  persist  in  the 
later. 

Froebel's  epochs.     Infancy,  Childhood,  Boyhood,  Youth. 

Scholium. — Life  is  unfolding,  not  repetition. 

A.  Infancy.  —  Predominant  characteristic,  absence  of  self- 
activity.  Importance  of  this  epoch  to  the  teacher  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  projects  itself  into  later  life.  (See  c  above.) 
When  purpose  is  absent  the  characteristics  of  infancy  are 
present.  Purposeless  activity  indicates  the  supervening  of 
infancy.  Illustration.  Child  squirming,  shaking  itself, 
dancing  without  apparent  intention,  laughing  aloud  with 
no  apparent  provocation. 

In  later  Hfe,  the  Bohemian  instinct  indicates  unwillingness 
to  be  controlled  by  purpose.  The  wearied  man  of  business 
returns  to  the  old  homestead,  and  casts  aside  purpose  and 
allows  his  actions  to  be  controlled  by  others. 


APPENDIX  279 

Lesson.  Infancy  may  supervene  at  any  time.  Teacher 
must  diagnose  the  condition  wisely,  a.  Volitional  activity 
drains  the  nervous  force.  The  rhythm  of  the  day  may  there- 
fore make  dominant  the  characteristics  of  infancy,  b.  If 
this  does  not  take  place  within  a  day,  there  is  a  rhythm 
covering  a  longer  period,  a  month,  a  year.  c.  The  moral  sen- 
timent is,  in  its  earlier  development,  without  purpose  {e.g.  a 
mere  matter  of  personal  attachment).  It  may  persist  in  such 
a  form  into  childhood  or  boyhood,  or  it  may  revert  to  such  a 
form. 

B.  Childhood.  —  Characteristics.  Presence  of  self-activ- 
ity, externalization  of  the  non-ego. 

Child  is  a  sponge.  Lesson.  Environment  must  be  pure. 
Language  must  be  exact.  (Note.  This  period  projects 
into  later  period,  carrying  with  it  its  characteristics.) 

Froebel  says  the  child  unifies  everything  with  himself, 
e.g.  evil  becomes  a  part  of  himself.  He  does  not  relate 
things  to  each  other  but  to  himself. 

This  disposition  is  deplored  by  impatient  teachers  and 
parents.  Such  an  attitude  is  wrong.  The  imifying  power  is 
easily  lost. 

C.  Boyhood  and  youth. 

Froebel' s  important  doctrines.  —  An  epoch  cannot  be  omitted. 
Child  becomes  a  man  not  by  reaching  a  certain  age  but  by 
passing  through  certain  stages. 

The  individual  must  be  what  the  epoch  calls  for.  The 
next  epoch  is  not  to  be  forced.  Illustration,  a.  Embry- 
ology of  eggs.  b.  Self-consciousness  extinguishes  childhood. 
c.  Forcing  youth  on  childhood  by  overdressing,  d.  See 
law  of  least  resistance.  Practice  in  class  room  must  be  gov- 
erned by  characteristics  of  epoch,  else  epoch  is  extinguished. 


28o  APPENDIX 

To  recognize  a  later  epoch  as  germinal  in  an  earlier  is 
necessary,  but  to  force  its  development  is  vicious,  e.g.  a 
little  child  may  be  told  to  "  be  a  man,"  but  only  in  a  limited 
sense.  The  lady  may  be  respected  in  a  little  girl,  but  she  is 
nevertheless  not  a  lady  but  a  child. 

Special  Illustration.  Religion  belongs  to  age  of  adoles- 
cence. It  is  potential  in  the  child,  but  its  adolescent  form 
cannot  be  forced  on  childhood  without  sad  results. 


INDEX 


Accuracy,  absence  of,  in  ordinary 
school  work,  41 ;  manual  training, 
an  incentive  to,  60. 

Achievement,  "consciousness  of 
power"  as  an  aid  to,  19,  20,  ig6 ;  de- 
velopment of  power  of,  256-258. 

Activity,  self,  the  law  of,  i-io,  23- 
25,  42,  61,  202,  253-255. 

Age,  the  kindergarten,  11,  12,  15,  17; 
the  playing  age,  loo-ioi  ;  proper 
age  for  choosing  future  occupation, 
78-79;  for  study  of  arithmetic,  21- 
22  ;   for  work  in  language,  202. 

Alertness,  257. 

Ambition,  encouragement  of,  99,  107  ; 
lack  of,  99,  107. 

Apathy,  causes  of,  8,  9,  41,  91 ; 
methods  of  dealing  with,  43,  44,  45, 
74,  107,  128;    signs  of,  2. 

Appreciation,  of  beauty,  92,  94,  96, 
134 ;  of  literature,  133,  167,  168 ; 
of  music,  131,  132. 

Arithmetic,  6,  8,  21,  34,  35,  49,  50, 
no,  114,  118,  121,  126,  127,  129, 
136-140. 

Attention,  habit  of,  103. 

Basic  Principles,  252-260. 

Beauty,  appreciation  of,  92,  94,  96,  134. 

Child,  the ;  attitude  toward  work,  41, 
46,  47,  51,  52;  Froebel's  epochs, 
278-280 ;  instinct  of  play  in,  98,  102, 
103,  107,  no;  natural  interests  of, 
92,  93,  94.  96. 

Class  Distinctions,  the  stumbling- 
block  to  progress,  56,  76,  80. 

Community  Spirit ;  276,  277,  kinder- 
garten, an  aid  to,  14 ;  play,  an 
incentive  to,  104,  105. 

Competition,  benefits  of,  44,  103. 

Composition,  202,  210,  212-213;   diffi- 


culty experienced  by  child  in,  119- 
121. 

Concentration ;  necessity  for,  in  teach- 
ing, 208,  211,  221,  224,  225,  244; 
value  of,  to  child,  13,  14,  126. 

Conservatism,  10. 

Control,  self,  103,  104,  105. 

Course  of  study,  enrichment  of,  123, 
128,  129;  flexibility  in,  77;  mis- 
takes in  present,  23,  35,  45,  46,  157, 
203,  259. 

Crime,  cost  of,  15,  16. 

Criticisms  of  present  school  system, 
111-129. 

Culture  Subjects,  73,  259. 

Development,  law  of  child,  26,  27,  28, 
29,  30;  mental  and  moral,  of  chil- 
dren, 17,  18. 

Discipline,  4. 

Drawing,  i33-i34- 

"  Ear-mindedness,"  in  spelling,  181- 
183. 

Education,  ends  of,  26,  64,  65,  67 ; 
inducements  to,  44,  45.  47,  Si  ;  in- 
dustrial, 49,  51,  55.  62,  64,  65,  68, 
69,  74,  75,  88,  259,  260;  important 
fact  in,  6 ;  modern  practice  in,  2,  20, 
52,  S3;  "new  education,"  i,  2-4, 
25s;  outcome  of,  7,  17;  "practi- 
cal," II,  89,  90;  standard  for,  30, 
46,  47 ;  value  of,  257 ;  vocational, 
48-49  ;  weakest  element  in,  i  ;  why 
educate?    136-137,  144,  260. 

Effort ;  importance  of,  9S-q6  ;  incen- 
tives to,  43-44- 

Encouragement,  19,  195- 

Enthusiasm,  method  of  arousing,  95- 
96. 

Errors,  In  child's  use  of  language,  214- 
240;  in  spelling,  175-194. 


281 


282 


INDEX 


"Essentials,"  the;  as  taught  yester- 
day and  to-day,  112-123,  128,  130, 
136 ;  factors  that  determine  the 
essentiaUty  of  subjects,  142. 

Examinations,  246,  255,  256. 

"Facts,"  their  place  in  education,  143, 

159,  254. 
Fertility  of  thought,  197-199. 
Froebel,  19,  21,  27,  28,  30,  31,  33,  38, 

92-93,  100. 

Geography,  8,  50,  142-168. 
"Gracious  Overflow,"  Law  of  the,  128, 

236. 
Grammar,  7,  204,  205,  206,  212,  222, 

239,  240,  241 ;  critical  study  of,  207  ; 

formal  study  of,  241,  242. 
Growth,  law  of,  2,  4,  25. 
Gumption,  39-53. 

Habits,  bad,  15 ;    basis    of,  254-255 ; 

in  grammar,  238  ;   the  reading,  165- 

166. 
Happiness,    the   basis   of   work,    106; 

music,  an  aid  to,  130. 
History,  245-251 ;    topical  method  of 

studying,  247-248. 

Imagination,  153,  157. 

Imitation,  48. 

Incentive,  to  effort,  43-44. 

Independence,  268;  necessity  for,  2,  3, 
4,  6,  7 ;  play,  an  incentive  to,  102, 
103 ;  teacher's  failure  to  recognize, 
199,  210;  value  of,  in  action,  252, 
253- 

Individuality,  102. 

Interest,  arousing  by  play,  99,  107, 
108,   109 ;    by  study  of  geography, 

148,  149,  158, 159;  awakening  of,  by 
manual  training,  58,  59 ;  by  nature 
study,  92,  93,  95,  96  ;  child's  natural, 
Q2,  93,  94,  96 ;    loss    of,    202,    203. 

Investigation,  the  child's  spirit  of,  92, 
93 ;   geography,  a  spur  to,  145,  148, 

149,  150,  153,  iss,  156  ;  in  the  study 
of  history,  247,  248,  249. 

Justice,  195-196. 


Kindergarten,  30-32,  36-38 ;  appa- 
ratus, 18-19;  cost  of,  15,  16;  effect 
on  child,  13-14,  17;  materials  used 
in  grades,  31-32. 

Language,  22,  197-244;  accuracy  of 
expression,  199 ;  freedom  in,  197- 
199  ;  fertility  of,  199  ;  oral  work  in, 
208. 

Literature,  8,  133,  134,  167,  168. 

Manual  training,  54-63 ;  benefits  of, 
56,  57.  58 ;  history  of,  54,  55  ;  re- 
sults of,  59,  60,  61. 

Maps,  150,  151. 

Marking  system,  faults  in  the,  19,  20, 
45.  195,  196,  255. 

Material,  child's  collection  of,  92-93 ; 
kindergarten,  18,  19,  31,  32. 

Memory,  relative  importance  of,  153, 
159,  247- 

Moral  development  of  child,  14,  17, 
25,  195 ;  play  as  a  moral  force, 
105. 

Motor  training,  104. 

Music,  126,  130-133. 

Nature  study,  22,  52,  89-97. 

Observation,    14,    148,    149,    150-152, 

154,  15s.  156,  235. 
Overflow,  Law  of  the  Gracious,  128, 

236. 

Penmanship,  119,  121. 

Perception,  153,  154;  failure  to  de- 
velop, 155. 

Personality,  9,  34-35 ;  fundamental 
principle  in  education,  141. 

Physical  training,  manual  training,  an 
aid  to,  60,  61. 

Pictures,  collections  of,  for  school  work, 
158-159. 

Play,  98-110. 

Pleasure,  educational  training  for,  131, 
132,  133,  134.  135- 

Power,  127,  236,  256,  257,  258;  con- 
sciousness of,  19,  20,  196 ;  develop- 
ment of,  I,  6,  7 ;  power  to  reason, 
146-148. 


INDEX 


283 


Preparation,  for  life  work,  78-80,  82, 

86. 
Principles,  Basic,  252-260. 

Reading,  14,  24,  33-35,  100.  1 20-1 21, 

161-168. 
Revelation,  self,  20,  21,  22,  33,  141. 
Rewards,  43-44,  45. 

Self-control,  103,  104,  105. 

Shop  work,  60. 

Social  instinct,  the,  100,  104,  108,  276, 

277. 
Spelling,  113,  115,  120,  169-196,  235. 
Spontaneity,  202,  203. 
Stupidity,  161,  255,  266. 


Teacher,  the,  attitude  toward  child, 
2,  3,  6,  24,  25,  52,  254 ;  grammar 
school,  5,  31;  high  school,  5,  29; 
kindergarten,  31,  36-38. 

Trade  teaching,  84,  86,  87. 

Vocabulary,  increase  in,  167,  172  ;  use 
of  child's  ordinary  vocabulary  in 
study  of  spelling,  186,  193,  194,  235, 
236. 

Vocational  selection,  78,  79. 

Vocational  training,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52. 

Wages,  as  affected  by  vocational  train- 
ing, 86,  87,  88. 


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"Both  the  editor  and  the  publishers  are  to  be  congratulated  on  the  ap- 
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work  will  be  of  the  greatest  service  to  all.  Sets  of  it  ought  to  be  in  every 
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The  Philosophy  of  Education 

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mental  science  are  applied  to  the  understanding  of  educational  problems. 
The  field  of  education  is  carefully  divided,  and  the  total  discussion  is 
devoted  to  the  philosophy  of  education,  in  distinction  from  its  history, 
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By  HERMAN    HARRELL    HORNE,   Ph.D. 

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psychology.  The  author  is  the  "middleman"  between  the  psychologist 
and  the  teacher,  taking  the  theoretical  descriptions  of  pure  psychology  and 
transforming  them  into  educational  principles  for  the  teacher.  In  the 
Introduction  the  reader  gets  his  bearings  in  the  field  of  the  science  of  edu- 
action.  The  remainder  of  the  book  sketches  this  science  from  the  stand- 
point of  psychology,  the  four  parts  of  the  work.  Intellectual  Education, 
Emotional  Education,  Moral  Education,  and  Religious  Education,  being 
suggested  by  the  nature  of  man,  the  subject  of  education.  A  special  fea- 
ture is  the  attention  paid  to  the  education  of  the  emotions  and  of  the  will. 

Idealism  in  Education 

Or  First  Principles  in  the  Making  of  Men  and  Women 
By  HERMAN    HARRELL    HORNE,   Ph.D. 

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Professor  Home  here  discusses  three  things  which  he  regards  as  funda- 
mental in  the  building  of  human  character,  —  Heredity,  Environment,  and 
Will.  His  method  of  handling  these  otherwise  heavy  subjects  makes  the 
book  of  interest,  even  to  the  general  reader. 


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